Celestial Trio Coming to the Skies Over Nyack: Supermoon, Eclipse and Spring Equinox

By Deb Belt (Patch Staff)

A trifecta of celestial events happen on Friday—a super moon, a total solar eclipse and the spring equinox—whether Rockland residents can see them or not.

The weather report isn’t promising. The National Weather Service is calling for snow on Friday morning in Rockland County to usher in spring 2015.

But that should be mostly after 10 a.m. The new moon rises March 20 at 5:36 a.m. If it’s not too cloudy, you could catch it before sunrise at 7: 10 a.m.

What will rise Friday morning is the third of six perigee moons in 2015, says EarthSky. A “supermoon” occurs when the moon rises on the perigee side of the moon’s orbit, which is closer to the earth. The end result is a moon that looks bigger and brighter, and has a stronger effect on tides on Earth.

This supermoon will pass right in front of the equinox sun on March 20, so the moon’s shadow will fall on parts of Earth. Only a fraction of the planet will be in the eclipse, including portions of Scotland, Norway and Denmark, says EarthSky.org.

There are six supermoons in 2015, with January and February already in the books. After this weekend, remaining supermoons come on Aug. 29, Sept. 28 and Oct. 27.

The March Equinox (Vernal Equinox) is on Friday, March 20, at 6:45 p.m. in New York to mark the beginning of spring. On the equinox the Sun shines directly on the equator and the northern hemisphere receives roughly the same amount of light and dark.

And for the first day of spring, light snow accumulation is possible, the NWS said.

Check timeanddate.com for sun, moon, weather and other calculations for your area.

»PHOTO: Total eclipse, which will happen in far northern areas, on March 20, courtesy of EarthSky.