This weekend, Chicagoans and astronomy nerds around the country will have the chance to see one of the coolest full moons in decades. Sunday's Harvest Moon (the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox) will be the largest full moon of 2015. That event will coincide with a total lunar eclipse, which will make the moon glow with a red hue as it passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow.
A full moon lunar eclipse also occurred in April, but it took place in the wee hours of the morning in Chicago, and the moon was more than 20,000 miles farther away from Earth than it will be on Sunday night. This weekend will be the first time in more than 30 years that Earthlings will be able to witness a supermoon in combination with a lunar eclipse.
If you're into glorious celestial events that remind you of your utter insignificance in the universe, then you should definitely look to the sky on Sunday night. But before you start calibrating your telescope, here are a few things to know about seeing the event in Chicago.
The eclipse is happening in prime time for Chicagoans
The partial eclipse will begin at 8:07pm on Sunday night in Chicago, with the total eclipse beginning at 9:11pm. The eclipse will peak at 9:47pm, and you'll be able to watch the happening until 10:27pm, which should give you just enough time to get home and hit the hay at a reasonable hour. Even better: The precise time of the full moon's peak will be at 9:51pm, which is so close to the peak of the eclipse that it could make Galileo squirm in his grave.
Furthermore, the Cubs are hosting the Pirates in a game with big playoff implications on Sunday night. Perhaps our celestial neighbor will give the North Side club the good juju it needs to finally make a World Series run.
There's little excuse to miss the eclipse
Chicago is one of the worst cities in the world in terms of light pollution (in part due to the city's orange glow), which usually blinds locals from taking in day-to-day celestial happenings. Sunday's eclipse will be big and bright enough to avoid that problem.
The Adler Planetarium is hosting a viewing party for the event, where attendees will be able to go to lectures by astronomy experts and view the eclipse from a professional telescope. If you really want to get an unabridged view of the moon and accompanying night sky, then you can head out to the suburbs, where light pollution is not as pernicious. You can find pockets with reduced light pollution from sources like Dark Site Finder.
If you really don't want to leave your house to see the moon, NASA TV will be providing a live stream of the eclipse. The sight won't look quite as spectacular through a screen, but at least you won't have to put on pants.
