Get ready for rare blue moon 31 Jan

January is set to be an incredible month for the skies. Warming up with the New Year’s Supermoon and the spectacular Quadrantids, this month will end with a blue supermoon in total eclipse for many viewers.

The first eclipse of 2018 will be a lunar one that comes at the very end of the month, on Jan. 31. 

It will be a total eclipse that involves the second full moon of the month, popularly referred to as a Blue Moon. Such a skywatching event hasn't happened for more than 150 years.

The eclipse will take place during the middle of the night, and the Pacific Ocean will be turned toward the moon at the time. Central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and most of Australia will get a fine view of this moon show in the evening sky. Heading farther west into western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the eclipse will already be underway as the moon rises. 

Moon shot on the evening of 4th Jan 2018 from Pune, IN by me

Follow the links for more details :

• NASA
• Space.com
• timeanddate.com
• Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events

NASA has posted a video explaining everything you need to know to make sure you catch the rest of January’s astronomical feast. Jane Houston Jones, an astronomer from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains how to watch the Quadrantids, a close pairing of Jupiter and Mars, and the blue supermoon.