WEBVTT FILE

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(Reporter) On Sunday night you're going want to go outside and look up

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at the moon. That's because we have two special things happening, we have

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a super moon and a total lunar eclipse happening

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in the evening. Here to tell us more about what this is and what will see

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is Dr. Jennifer Heldman, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for

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joining us. (Dr. Heldman) Thank you for having me. (Reporter) So, we have a rare

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event happening on Sunday September 27th, what are we going to see?

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(Dr. Heldman) Right, so we have this special cosmic treat happening, we have a super moon

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total lunar eclipse. First with the total lunar eclipse what we'll be seeing is the

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moon will be moving into the shadow of the Earth. So we will start with

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nice bright white full moon that we are used to seeing and then as the moon moves into

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the shadow of the Earth it will turn a beautiful reddish color. That red color is

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cause by a reflexion of all the Sun rises and all the Sun sets on planet Earth.

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reflecting off the lunar surface. And then as the moon moves out of the Earth

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shadow will then return back to that bright vibrant full moon we are used to seeing.

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So that in itself is pretty spectacular but also at the same time

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we have a super moon. So a super moon is year's closest total

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full moon. So we know is the moon goes around the Earth

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but not in a complete perfect circle. Sometimes the moon is further away, sometimes its closer.

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And so what we see Sunday night is when the moon is

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closest for its full moon of the year. So its pretty rare to have a super moon and

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a total lunar eclipse happen at the same time. The last time it happen was 1982

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and it won't happen again until 2033, so Sunday night is a great time

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for folks to go out and observe the moon. (Reporter) Now we're here

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on the east coast, how can we watch this event? (Dr. Heldman) So the best

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way to watch the event on the east coast is to go outside and look up at the night sky.

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Go look up at the moon. It'll be a little after 9pm.

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you should go out and the moon will start to go into the Earth's shadow

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Then by about 10 o'clock it'll be fully in shadow and it will last for over

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an hour and the moon will move out of the Earth's shadow and return to that bright full

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moon we are used to seeing. So if you go outside, maybe go somewhere there is a dark

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sky and where there is no large trees or buildings to block your view of the moon

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If the weather isn't great or it's cloudy, you can always watch on NASA.gov

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we'll be live streaming the entire event. So there's always a place to go see this

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special occasion. (Reporter) What are scientists hoping to learn from this

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eclipse? (Dr. Heldman) Right, so scientists are every excited for the eclipse, because NASA has

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the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO and that's a spacecraft that's orbiting the moon

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right now.So during the eclipse, LRO will be taking very special measurements

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Will be measuring the surface temperature of the moon. So before eclipse

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starts, we'll measure the temperature of the moon when its in that direct sunlight, baking

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in the oven of direct sun. Then we'll move into eclipse, when the lunar surface

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is in shadow and it gets very cold in that deep freeze of dark shadow

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and then again as the moon comes out of the shadow and back into the sunlight and by

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measuring these temperature changes we can tell a lot about the surface of the moon.

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how that works and how the moon formed. And then by comparison and how other moons and

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planets in our solar system has formed and evolved.

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(Reporter) Well the moon looks the same to us day in and day out, but it turns

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outs that the moon is quiet dynamic, talk about some of the cool things you are learning.

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(Dr. Heldman) That's one of the beautiful things about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter it's

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showing us that the moon is a dynamic and changing place.

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You may look up at the moon each night and think it looks the same but with this new data

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we're learning that things are changing all the time.

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For example there are rocks from space that are hitting the moon

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and forming new impact craters on the surface of the moon.

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We can see these happening, here's an image right here,

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so we have new craters that are forming on the moon.

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We also now know there is ice on the moon and water ice

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especially near the poles and we never knew that before and now we are learning that

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water is moving around on the lunar surface so that's very interesting.

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We are also learning that there were volcanoes on the moon much more recently

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then we ever thought so the moon had more heat inside of it

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and longer then we thought with melted rocks and what not.

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So the moon is actually a very dynamic, interesting, and changing place

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and we're learning all of this through new data from LRO.

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(Reporter) Where can we learn more?

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(Dr. Heldman) So there are several places to go learn more

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you can go to nasa.gov/LRO to learn more about the LRO mission and what's being learned.

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Also you can follow LRO on Twitter @LRO_NASA

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to get all the latest and greatest information about the supermoon lunar eclipse

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and also lunar studies in general.

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(Reporter) Thanks so much for joining us.    (Dr. Heldman) Great, thank you very much.

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