A Historic Night in Boro Parks’ Sky: Lunar Eclipse Unseen Since 581 Years Ago

By: Yaker Biegeleisen 

The longest lunar eclipse for the New York area since 1440 will be seen tonight over Boro Park—and it will be pretty close to a full eclipse. 

A lunar eclipse happens when planet earth gets between the moon and its source of light, the sun. 

As we happen to be in the middle of the lunar month, we would ordinarily see a full moon. But for most of tonight, the moon will appear mostly black. 

This eclipse will be visible in a number of locations through the planet. In North America, New York City will be the epicenter. 

Beginning at about 1:00 Friday morning, earth will begin to get in between the sun and the moon, increasing the eclipse as the hours wear on. The peak of the eclipse will be at 4:00 a.m., Lessing from there as morning approaches. 

However, as we expect cloudy conditions in the early part of the night, it seems likely that there will not be much to see during the early part of the eclipse. Conditions are expected to clear up around the peak of the eclipse—and those wishing to witness this historical astrological wonder may wish to set their alarm clocks for this. 

An interesting note is that these eclipses only happen on a full moon (such as tonight, 15 Kislev). 

Yaker Biegeleisen is a born and bred Boro Parker and a weather and astrology enthusiast. He resides here with his family.

Photo by: Yossi Goldberger