Midterms To Coincide With Lunar Eclipse for the First Time in U.S. History

A total lunar eclipse will grace North American skies on Tuesday November 8, coinciding for the first time in history with the nation's midterm elections. This rare event is not expected to happen again until November 8, 2394.

Some have questioned whether this alignment is an ominous sign of things to come.

Many users have voiced their concerns on social media. "Eclipses signify the ending of chapters, intense and rapid change, and disorder," one user said on Twitter. "This will certainly be interesting."

The so-called blood moon has been a focus of folklore and superstition for centuries.

"We see quite a lot of superstitions about eclipses even in the modern world," Tom Kerss, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in the U.K., told Newsweek. "In almost all cases, lunar eclipses were seen to be bad luck."

"In Central America, they were connected to natural disasters; in Greece they were thought to portend punishment from angry gods. In some biblical interpretations, a lunar eclipse is the Moon turning to blood and signaling the apocalypse.

"Of course, if any of this were true, we'd be in pretty bad shape because lunar eclipses occur every year." A lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes directly into the Earth's shadow.

"Lunar eclipses are about as common as solar eclipses, occurring at a rate of two to five per year," Kerss said. "But not all lunar eclipses are spectacular.

"The Earth's shadow has two distinct regions, the umbra and the penumbra. The dark umbra is smaller, but if the Moon grazes it or passes through it, the shadow is very noticeable."

The lunar eclipse comes two weeks after the partial solar eclipse that was visible across Europe, western Asia and northeast Africa on Tuesday, October 25.

"Whenever we have a solar eclipse, the alignment of the New Moon and the Moon's orbital node is very close, so we can be sure that a lunar eclipse will precede or follow the solar eclipse by about two weeks," Kerss said.

"In this case, it's happening afterwards and, fortunately, the Moon will entirely pass into the umbra for the most dramatic result, a total lunar eclipse.

"Instead of the New Moon passing in front of the Sun as with a solar eclipse, it is the Full Moon passing into the Earth's shadow that results in a lunar eclipse. This makes the Earth's shadow visible to us, but it's actually there all the time."

The lunar eclipse will begin in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and will last for over an hour.

"Every state will see some or all of the total eclipse, during which the Moon will pass through the Earth's umbral shadow and take on a deep red-orange hue," Kerss said.

"Those on the east coast should look out from 4:00 a.m. On the west coast this is 1:00 a.m. The western contiguous U.S. and Hawaii will have the best views.

"Either side of totality there are long partial phases, too, during which part of the Moon will be in the umbral shadow and has a chance of showing a dark reddish color. In sum, the partial and total eclipse phases last for about 220 minutes!"

Unlike solar eclipses, which require looking directly at the sun, lunar eclipses are safe to view directly.

"In the centuries-long history of US democracy, an election has never coincided with an eclipse before, so this will be a historic occasion for U.S. skywatchers," Kerss said. "I would encourage them to set their alarms and enjoy the spectacle, as the next total lunar eclipse to be visible from the U.S. won't occur until March 2025."

For anyone concerned about the implications of such an event on election day, Kerss has some reassurance: "In [Togo and Benin] culture, eclipses are battles between the Sun and the Moon. It's down to the people to defuse the conflict, and these events are regarded as good times to heal their communities and resolve their differences."

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