Super Blue Moon Wednesday, Jan. 31, Is First of Two 2018 Blue Moons

Summary: The super blue moon Wednesday, Jan. 31, is the first of two 2018 blue moons, with blue designating the second of two full moons within one calendar month.

night side of moon at instant of reaching super blue fullness, Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 13:27 UTC: John Walker, via Fourmilab

The super blue moon Wednesday, Jan. 31, is the first of two 2018 blue moons, with the blue designation applying to the second of two full moons that occur within the same calendar month.

January 2018’s first blue moon turns full Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 13:27 Coordinated Universal Time (8:27 a.m. Eastern Standard Time; 6:27 a.m. Pacific Standard Time). Almost two months later (58 days 23 hours 10 minutes), the year’s second blue moon reaches fullness Saturday, March 31, at 12:37 UTC (8:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time; 5:37 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time).

The year’s first blue moon claims triple honors. In addition to blue moon status, January 2018’s second full moon is a supermoon and also hosts a total lunar eclipse as 2018’s first of five eclipses.

Astrologer Richard Nolle is credited with coining the term of supermoon. Bruce McClure, EarthSky Tonight’s lead writer, explains Nolle’s definition as designating a new moon or full moon that logs a center-to-center distance of about 361,000 kilometers (224,000 miles) from Earth.

McClure places the Wednesday, Jan. 31, super blue moon at a center-to-center distance of 360,199 kilometers (223,817.28 miles). The blue moon’s distance is 1,204 kilometers farther away from Earth than January’s closest distance, known as perigee. The month’s perigee of 358,995 kilometers (223,069.15 miles) takes place 1 day 3 hours 33 minutes earlier, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 9:54 UTC (4:54 a.m. EST; 1:54 a.m. PST).

January’s super blue moon is the third in a series of three successive supermoon full moons. Its predecessors in the 2017-2018 supermoon trio reached supermoon fullness Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, and Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. Of the trio, January 2018’s first full moon is the closest and largest. Its full moon distance, logged Jan. 2, at 2:24 UTC (Monday, Jan. 1, at 9:24 p.m. EST; 6:24 p.m. PST), is 356,846 kilometers (221,733.8 miles). Second place goes to December’s full moon supermoon, with a full moon distance of 357,987 kilometers (222,442.8 miles), logged Dec. 3 at 15:47 UTC (10:47 a.m. EST; 7:47 a.m. PST).

The year’s second blue moon, Saturday, March 31, is not a supermoon. AstroPixels, the astronomy-dedicated web site of retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, places the center-to-center distance between moon and Earth at 376,534 kilometers (miles) at the instant of March 2018 blue moon's fullness. Time and Date places the lunar distance at 376,498 (233,945 miles) from Earth’s center when the moon crosses Greenwich Borough’s meridian (zero degrees longitude) at 12:45 a.m. (Greenwich Mean Time; UTC). The Greenwich meridian passage happens eight minutes after 2018’s second blue moon reaches fullness at 12:37 GMT/UTC.

January’s blue moon also participates in 2018’s first eclipse, which begins at 10:51 UTC (12:51 a.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time). The super blue moon Wednesday, Jan. 31, is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2018. The second total lunar eclipse takes place Friday, July 27.

January’s eclipse initiates 2018’s quintet of eclipses, which also includes three partial solar eclipses. The year’s solar eclipses occur Thursday, Feb. 15; Friday, July 13; Saturday, Aug. 11.

Contrastingly, 2018’s second blue moon only claims blue moon status. The Saturday, March 31, blue moon does not undergo an eclipse.

The most recent occurrence of two blue moons within the same calendar year in the 20th century (Jan. 1, 1901, to Dec. 31, 2000) happened in 1999. Blue moons happened Sunday, Jan. 31, at 16:07 UTC and Wednesday, March 31, at 22:49 UTC in 1999. January’s blue moon participated in a penumbral lunar eclipse that began at 16:17:31 UTC.

Three years feature two blue moons in the 21st century (Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2100). The immediate successor to 2018’s two blue moons is 2037. Blue moons will happen Saturday, Jan. 31, 14:04 UTC and Tuesday, March 31, at 09:53 UTC in 2037. January’s blue moon will participate in a total lunar eclipse that begins at 14:00:21 UTC.

The third instance of a year of two blue moons in the 21st century happens in 2094. The year’s first blue moon happens Sunday, Jan. 31, at 12:38 UTC. The second blue moon takes place Friday, April 30, at 13:55 UTC.

As the first of two 2018 blue moons, the super blue moon Wednesday, Jan. 31, offers a triple feature as a blue moon that undergoes a total lunar eclipse and has supermoon status.

Jan. 31, 2018, blue moon viewed from Earth at 13:27 UTC, instant of reaching fullness: John Walker, via Fourmilab

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

night side of moon at instant of reaching super blue fullness, Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 13:27 UTC: John Walker, via Fourmilab @ https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth

Jan. 31, 2018, blue moon viewed from Earth at 13:27 UTC, instant of reaching fullness: John Walker, via Fourmilab @ https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. "Geocentric Ephemeris for Moon: 2018 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)." AstroPixels > Ephemeris > Moon.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moon2018.html

Espenak, Fred. “Moon at Perigee and Apogee: 2001 to 2100.” AstroPixels > Ephemeris > Moon > Perigee and Apogee.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moonperap2001.html

Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 1999 Jan 31.” Eclipse Wise > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses: 1991-2000.
Available @ https://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/1901-2000/LE1999Jan31Nprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Phases of the Moon: 1901 to 2000 Universal Time.” AstroPixels > Ephemeris > Moon > Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/phasescat/phases1901.html

Espenak, Fred. “Phases of the Moon: 2001 to 2100 Universal Time.” AstroPixels > Ephemeris > Moon.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/phasescat/phases2001.html

Espenak, Fred. “Total Lunar Eclipse of 2037 Jan 31.” EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses: 2091-2100.
Available @ https://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2037Jan31Tprime.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Blue Moon Month January 2018 Opens New Year With Two Full Moons.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/blue-moon-month-january-2018-opens-new.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Crater Timings for Jan. 31, 2018, Total Lunar Eclipse Show Umbral Span.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/crater-timings-for-jan-31-2018-total.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “First 2018 Eclipse Is Blue Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/first-2018-eclipse-is-blue-moon-total.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Jan. 31, 2018, Blue Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Cycle 124.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/jan-31-2018-blue-moon-total-lunar.html

McClure, Bruce. “January 31 Is 1st of 2 Blue Moons in 2018.” EarthSky > Tonight. Jan. 31, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/blue-moon-on-january-31-2018

McClure, Bruce. “Super Blue Moon Eclipse on January 31.” EarthSky > Tonight. Jan. 30, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/?p=270280

McClure, Bruce; Deborah Byrd. “2018’s Closest Supermoon January 1.” Earthsky > Human World > Space. Jan. 1, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-supermoon

“Moonrise, Moonset, and Phase Calendar for Greenwich Borough, March 2018.” TimeAndDate > Sun & Moon > Moonrise and Moonset.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/uk/greenwich-city?month=3&year=2018

Nolle, Richard. “21st Century SuperMoon Alignments.” Astropro > Features > Tables > 21st Century Lunar Tables > SuperMoons 2000.
Available @ http://www.astropro.com/features/tables/cen21ce/suprmoon.html

Nolle, Richard. “The SuperMoon and Other Lunar Extremes.” The Mountain Astrologer (Oct/Nov 2007): 20-24.
Available @ http://www.mountainastrologer.com/oldfiles/Nolle1007.html

Nolle, Richard. “Supermoon: What It Is, What It Means.” Astropro > Features > Articles. Last updated March 22, 2011.
Available @ http://www.astropro.com/features/articles/supermoon/

Il Trovatore Is Feb. 3, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Feb. 3, 2018, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is Il Trovatore by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Jennifer Rowley appears in Verdi's Il Trovatore as Leonora, whose rival suitors turn out to be brothers; photo by Catherine Pisaroni / Lenny's Studio: Jennifer Rowley @LaRowley1, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018

Il Trovatore, a four-act operatic tragedy by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901) centering on a love triangle of two brothers unknowingly vying for the same noble lady, is the Feb. 3, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

Credit for much of the Italian libretto goes to Italian librettist Salvadore Cammarano (March 19, 1801-July 17, 1852). Cammarano also left a detailed scenario and an unfinished libretto for Re Lear, Verdi’s projected operatic adaptation of William Shakespeare’s King Lear.

Italian poet Leone Emanuele Bardare (1820-ca. 1874) is credited with finessing the libretto for Il Trovatore.

The libretto’s literary source is El Trovador: Drama Caballeresco en Cinco Jornadas en Prosa y Verso by Spanish Romantic dramatist Antonio García Gutiérrez (Oct. 4, 1813-Aug. 26, 1884). El Trovador premiered March 1, 1836, at Teatro del Príncipe in Madrid, central Spain.

Verdi’s Il Trovatore premiered Jan. 19, 1853, at Teatro Apollo in Rome, western central Italy. Six years later Teatro Apollo served as venue for the premiere of another Verdi opera. The first public performance of Un Ballo in Maschera took place Feb. 17, 1859, at Teatro Apollo.

Eight performances of Il Trovatore are scheduled for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Opening night is Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The month’s two additional performances take place Friday, Jan. 26, at 8 p.m. and Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m.

February’s five performances begin with the Saturday matinee broadcast, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m. The season’s four remaining performances are scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; Monday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m.

Estimated run time for Il Trovatore is 2 hours 46 minutes. Acts I and II span 71 minutes. An intermission of 30 minutes follows. Acts III and IV span 65 minutes.

Marco Armiliato conducts all performances. His birthplace is Genoa, Liguria, northwestern Italy. The Genoese conductor debuted Nov. 9, 1998, at the Metropolitan Opera in La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also conducts three Puccini operas: La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and Turandot.

Maria Agresta was originally scheduled to appear in all performances as Leonora, a lady-in-waiting whose rival suitors do not know that they are brothers. Her birthplace is Vallo, Campagna, southwestern Italy. The Italian soprano debuted Jan. 6, 2016, at the Metropolitan Opera as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème.

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera announces via Twitter tweet of Jan. 11, 2018, that Jennifer Rowley replaces Maria Agresta, who is ill, as Leonora in all performances. Her birthplace is Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, northwestern Ohio. The American soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014 as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Jennifer Rowley also appears in the title role of Puccini's Tosca.

Anita Rachvelishvili appears in Feb. 3’s Saturday matinee broadcast as Azucena, a gypsy who seeks to avenge her mother’s fiery death as a witch. She also appears in all three of January’s performances and in three other performances in February (9, 12, 15). Her birthplace is Tbilisi, Central Valley, Republic of Georgia, Eurasia. The Georgian operatic mezzo-soprano debuted Jan. 5, 2011, at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Anita Rachvelishvili shares the role of Azucena with Dolora Zajick, who appears in Feb. 6’s performance. Her birthplace is Salem, Marion County, northwestern Oregon. The American mezzo-soprano reprises her Metropolitan Opera debut role. She debuted Oct. 8, 1988, at the Metropolitan Opera as Azucena. In the 2017-2018 season, she also appears as Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (Sept. 1, 1854-Sept. 27, 1921).

Yonghoon Lee appears in all performances as Manrico, who, raised as Azucena’s son, does not know that his rival for Leonora’s love is his brother. His hometown is Seoul, northwestern South Korea. The South Korean operatic tenor debuted Nov. 29, 2010, at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Verdi’s Don Carlo.

Quinn Kelsey appears in Feb. 3’s Saturday matinee broadcast as Count di Luna, who is doomed with unrequited love for Leonora and with the loss of his long-lost brother, whose execution he unknowingly orders. Quinn Kelsey also appears in all three of January’s performances. His birthplace is Honolulu, southeastern Oahu, Hawaii. The American baritone debuted March 29, 2008, at the Metropolitan Opera as Schaunard in Puccini’s La Bohème. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also appears as Peter in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Quinn Kelsey shares the role of Count di Luna with Luca Salsi, who appears in four performances in February (6, 9, 12, 15). His birthplace is San Secondo Parmense, Parma province, Emilia-Romagna, northeastern Italy. The Italian baritone debuted Oct. 8, 2007, at the Metropolitan Opera as Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also shares the role of Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with Quinn Kelsey, and he also appears as Miller in Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Štefan Kocán appears in Feb. 3’s Saturday matinee as Ferrando, captain of Count di Luna’s guards and narrator of the tragic circumstances behind the burning at the stake of Azucena’s mother. He also appears in all three of January’s performances. His birthplace is Trnava, western Slovakia. The Slovakian bass debuted Oct. 2, 2009, at the Metropolitan Opera as the King in Verdi’s Aida.

Štefan Kocán shares the role of Ferrando with Kwangchul Youn, who appears in four performances in February (6, 9, 12, 15). His birthplace is Chung Ju, North Chungcheong province, central South Korea. The South Korean operatic bass debuted Oct. 8, 2004, at the Metropolitan Opera as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also appears as Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Met Opera’s 2017-2018 staging of Il Trovatore is under the direction of Scottish opera and theatre director Sir David McVicar. Sir McVicar reprises his staging as a new Metropolitan Opera production, which debuted Feb. 16, 2009. His production team comprises Charles Edwards, set designer; Brigitte Reiffenstuel, costume designer; Jennifer Tipton, lighting designer; Leah Hausman, choreographer.

The opera’s setting is Zaragoza, Aragon, northeastern Spain, in the 15th century. Sir McVicar’s production fast forwards from the 15th century to the early 19th century. The historical background becomes the Peninsular War (1808-1814) conducted by French statesman and military leader Napoléon Bonaparte (Aug. 15, 1769-May 5, 1821).

Il Trovatore appears as the 10th of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 23 Saturday matinee broadcasts. Sir David McVicar’s new production of Puccini’s Tosca was the season’s ninth Saturday matinee broadcast. Tosca aired Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, at 1 p.m.

The season’s 11th Saturday matinee broadcast is Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. L’Elisir d’Amore is scheduled for Feb. 10, 2018, at 12 p.m.

Online database Operabase places Giuseppe Verdi in first place in a worldwide ranking of 1,281 composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016. Second and third places are occupied by Wolfgang Mozart and Giacomo Puccini, respectively. Il Trovatore holds place 20 in the worldwide list of 2,658 most popular operas.

Il Trovatore’s Metropolitan Opera debut took place Oct. 26, 1883. Prior to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Il Trovatore's most recent Met Opera performances occurred during the 2015-2016 season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Repertory Report provides statistics for the opera house’s operatic performances. Il Trovatore occupies place 11. Immediately above Il Trovatore, in ninth and 10th places, respectively, are Pagliacci by Italian opera composer Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857-Aug. 9, 1919) and Cavalleria Rusticana by Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (Dec. 7, 1863-Aug. 2, 1945). Immediately below Il Trovatore, in 12th place, is Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868).

Il Trovatore appears as the second of three Verdi works offered as Saturday matinee broadcasts during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. On Dec. 2, 2017, Verdi’s Requiem opened the 2017-2018 Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast season. Luisa Miller is the April 14, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast.

The takeaway for Il Trovatore as the Feb. 3, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 10th Saturday matinee broadcast is a tragically retributive tale of rivalry between two suitors who are revealed, too late, to be brothers and of the fatal cost to Leonora, their shared love interest.

January performances and the Feb. 3 Saturday matinee broadcast team Quinn Kelsey (left) as Count di Luna, who unknowingly orders the execution of his long-lost brother, a mysterious troubador (trovatore) raised by gypsies, with Anita Rachvelishvili (right) as Azucena, a gypsy determined to avenge her mother's fiery death; photo by Karen Almond/The Metropolitan Opera: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 23, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Jennifer Rowley appears in Verdi's Il Trovatore as Leonora, whose rival suitors turn out to be brothers; photo by Catherine Pisaroni / Lenny's Studio: Jennifer Rowley @LaRowley1, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/LaRowley1/status/951568597092102149

January performances and the Feb. 3 Saturday matinee broadcast team Quinn Kelsey (left) as Count di Luna, who unknowingly orders the execution of his long-lost brother, a mysterious troubador (trovatore) raised by gypsies, with Anita Rachvelishvili (right) as Azucena, a gypsy determined to avenge her mother's fiery death; photo by Karen Almond/The Metropolitan Opera: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 23, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10160031031135533

For further information:

Anita Rachvelishvili @AnitaRachvelishviliOfficial. "Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili enthralled Met audiences when she debuted in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen in 2011, a character that she has sung to great acclaim around the world. This month, she returns as Azucena in Il Trovatore—her first Verdi role with the company." Facebook. Jan. 8, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/AnitaRachvelishviliOfficial/posts/10155281003313100

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

“Debut: Quinn Kelsey.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352451 La Bohème {1194} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/29/2008.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352451

“Debut: Yonghoon Lee, Maxime de Toledo.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353647 Don Carlo {193} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/29/2010.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353647

“Debuts: Alexei Ratmansky, Stefan Kocán, Adam Laurence Herskowitz.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353094 Aida {1104} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/02/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353094

“Debuts: Anita Hartig, Jennifer Rowley, Nicolas Testé.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355378 La Bohème {1251} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/19/2014.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355378

“Debuts: Anita Rachvelishvili, Margaret Thompson.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353729 Carmen {970} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/05/2011.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353729

“Debuts: Gregory Lorenz, Marco Armiliato.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 331123 La Bohème {1048} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/09/1998.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=331123

“Debuts: Luca Salsi, Kevin Augustine, Tom Lee.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352090 Madama Butterfly {812} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/08/2007.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352090

“Debuts: L’ubica Vargicová, Volker Vogel, Kwangchul Youn . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351036 Die Zauberflöte {343} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/08/2004.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351036

“Debuts: Maria Agresta, Kihwan Sim.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356237 La Bohème {1251} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/06/2016.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356237

Jennifer Rowley @LaRowley1. "I am so happy to share that I will sing Leonora in #Iltrovatore with a phenomenal group of artists @metopera Jan 22-Feb 15 Hope you can join us -- tickets are available here!" Twitter. Jan. 11, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/LaRowley1/status/951568597092102149

Marriner, Derdriu. “Tosca Is Jan. 27, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 22, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/tosca-is-jan-27-2018-met-opera-saturday.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Verdi Requiem Is First 2017-2018 Saturday Matinee Broadcast Dec. 2.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/11/verdi-requiem-is-first-2017-2018.html

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Jennifer Rowley will sing the role of Leonora in all performances of Il Trovatore this season replacing Maria Agresta, who is ill. #CastChange." Twitter. Jan. 11, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/951561180677660678

“New Production: Il Trovatore. Debuts: David McVicar, Charles Edwards, Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Leah Hausman.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353605 Il Trovatore {600} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/16/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353605

Melick, Jennifer. "Gypsy Fire." Opera News > Features. January 2018.
Available @ https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2018/1/Features/Gypsy_Fire.html

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “'She makes the words bite. She is sometimes ethereal. She is sometimes, even more than earthy, elemental. Amazingly, given Azucena’s unending desperation, she is elegant.'” (The New York Times) Anita Rachvelishvili stars as Azucena in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Performances through February 15." Facebook. Jan. 23, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10160031031135533

"Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml

Vaughan, H.H., ed. El Trovador por Antonio García Gutiérrez: Edited With Notes and Vocabulary. Heath’s Modern Language Series. Boston, MA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL: D.C. Heath & Co., 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/eltrovadoredited00garc

Woolfe, Zachary. "Review: A Surprise Star Steals the Met's 'Il Trovatore.'" The New York Times > Music. Jan. 23, 2018.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/arts/music/review-verdi-trovatore-met-opera.html

Southern Spreadwing Damselfly Habitats: Shiny Thorax, Small Ovipositor

Summary: North American southern spreadwing damselfly habitats east and south of the Rockies to Atlantic and Gulf coasts get shiny thoraxes and small ovipositors.

southern spreadwing damselfly (Lestes australis) in Big Thicket Nature Preserve, near Kountze, Hardin County, southeastern Texas; Monday, April 20, 2015: Judy Gallagher (Judy Gallagher), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

North American southern spreadwing damselfly habitats affirm cultivation along lakes, marshes and ponds and naturalism through distribution ranges from the United States' Rockies eastward and southward through Atlantic and Gulf coastal states.

Southern spreadwings bear their common name as southerners with reposed wings at 45-degree angles, not closed over abdomens, and the scientific name Lestes australis (southern robber). Common names conjure up the consensus of scientific committees convened by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas concerning nonscientific names for the former common spreadwing species. Descriptions by Edmund Murton Walker (Oct. 5, 1877-Feb. 14, 1969), co-discoverer of icebugs with Takatsuna B. Kurata and entomologist from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, determine scientific designations.

Southern spreadwing damselfly lifespans expect ephemeral, fishless, somewhat shallow or permanent bogs, lakes, marshes or ponds with accessibly grassy, herbaceous and woody in-water and waterside vegetation.

March through January function as maximum, most southerly flight seasons even though May through August furnish wildlife mapping opportunities throughout all North American southern spreadwing niches.

Males gather on low perches atop grassy blades and herbaceous stems near the centers of slow-moving, somewhat shallow, still waters while females get together near shorelines. They hold additional, hidden perches within waterside grasses and shrubs before females head from morning fly-catching forages to afternoon watery breeding habitats and oviposition (egg-laying) sites. Long-spined, long legs involve female and male southern spreadwing damselflies in forages for flies and other flying insects in herbaceous terrestrial vegetation away from water bodies.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles, bugs and mites jeopardize North American southern spreadwing damselfly habitats.

Immature southern spreadwing damselflies keep to dull, faded, light, pale colors and lower size ranges even though immature males always know brown eyes and shoulder stripes.

Egg-hatched, immature, molted larval, naiad and nymph stages lead molted, shiny-winged, soft-bodied tenerals into two weeks of out-of-water sexual maturation and into 10- to 50-day adulthoods. Tandem adults manage six to 19 minutes each for two lifetime matings and hour-long manipulations of eggs into oviposition sites in emergent, tall standing reed stems. Pond spreadwings in the Lestidae spread-winged damselfly family need aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms.

North American southern spreadwing damselfly habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 45 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 to minus 3.88 degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pepperbush, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge, water-lily and willow families promote southern spreadwings.

Bronze to metallic green abdomens, brown eyes tingeing blue with maturity and pale tan-striped, metallic brown-black thoraxes with light yellow undersides qualify as adult female hallmarks. Adult males reveal blue eyes and upper lips, bronze to metallic abdomens with blue-gray powder and metallic brown-black thoraxes with blue-brown shoulder stripes and white-yellow undersides. Adults show off 1.42- to 1.81-inch (36- to 46-millimeter) head-body lengths, 1.10- to 1.42-inch (28- to 36-millimeter) abdomens and 0.71- to 0.98-inch (18- to 25-millimeter) hindwings.

Otherwise similar-looking northern and sweetflag spreadwings transmit dark, not metallic thoraxes and, for sweetflag females only, large ovipositors in overlapping North American southern spreadwing damselfly habitats.

southern spreadwing damselfly at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern Grayson County, northeastern Texas; Friday, April 15, 2016, 11:48:55: Laurie Sheppard/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region, Public Domain, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

southern spreadwing damselfly (Lestes australis) in Big Thicket Nature Preserve, near Kountze, Hardin County, southeastern Texas; Monday, April 20, 2015: Judy Gallagher (Judy Gallagher), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/52450054@N04/25934709655/

southern spreadwing damselfly at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern Grayson County, northeastern Texas; Friday, April 15, 2016, 11:48:55: Laurie Sheppard/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region, Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfws_southwest/32528690441/

For further information:

Abbott, John C. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Bright, Ethan. " Lestes disjunctus australis Walker, 1952: 59 -- Southern Spreadwing." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Zygoptera Selys, 1854 > Lestidae, Calvert 1901 (Spreadwings) > Lestes Leach, 1815 (Pond Spreadwings).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

"Lestes disjunctus." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Zygoptera > Lestidae > Lestes.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=4460

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2011.

> "The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Walker, E. M. (Edmund Murton). 1914. "A New Species of Orthopteran, Forming a New Genus and Family." The Canadian Entomologist, vol. XLVI: 93-99. London, Canada: The London Printing and Lithographing Company Ltd.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3089008

Walker, E. M. (Edmund Murton). June 1952. The Lestes Disjunctus and Forcipatus Complex (Odonata: Lestidae): Lestes d. australis new subspecies." Transactions of the American Entomological Society, vol. 78, no. 2 (June): 64-67.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/25077643?seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents

Eastern Forktail Damselfly Habitats: Black-Tipped, Blue-Segmented Body

Summary: North American eastern forktail damselfly habitats from the Rockies east to Newfoundland through Georgia have blue-segmented, black-tipped abdomens.

adult female eastern forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis) in Guelph, southwestern Ontario, east central Canada; Monday, June 16, 2014, 19:37: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

North American eastern forktail damselfly habitats access cultivation along slow-moving, small, sunny, vegetated water bodies and naturalism through distribution ranges in southeastern Canada and in the United States east of the Rockies.

Eastern forktails bear their common name for eastern North American males' fork-tipped abdomens and the scientific name Ischnura verticalis (thin, vertical tail) for delicate, straight abdomens. Common names communicate the consensus of scientific committees convened by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, consolidated in 1988 and created a non-profit corporation in 2002. Scientific designations date from descriptions in 1839 by Thomas Say (June 27, 1787-Oct. 10, 1834), Philadelphia-born insect, reptile and shell specialist on nineteenth-century North American expeditions.

Eastern forktail damselfly lifespans expect emergent or floating, stemmed vegetation in, or grasses, sedges or herbaceous or woodland plants near, lakes, marshes, ponds, rivers and streams.

January through December function as optimum, southernmost flight seasons even though May through August furnish wildlife mapping opportunities northeast and southeast from the United States' Rockies.

All ages and both genders gather on low-lying perches on branches, soils or stems amid shoreline vegetation even though they rarely go out over open waters. Female eastern forktail damselflies halt homeland-invading females and males by curling abdomens downward and by rapidly beating wings and generally have only one 40-minute, monogamous mating. One-time matings impel mothers-to-be as young as four days old to implant 1,000-plus eggs two to three hours later in aquatic or shoreline plant stem tissue.

Ants, biting midges, ducks, falcons, fish, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, robber flies, spiders, turtles and water beetles and mites jeopardize North American eastern forktail damselfly habitats.

Immature eastern forktail damselflies keep the same colors as mature males whereas immature females know either mature female- or male-like morphs (color forms) the first week.

Immature females as andromorphs look mature male-like with black, blue and green abdominal segments, green eyes, green shoulder-striped and side-lined black thoraxes and green, small eyespots. Immature females as heteromorphs manifest mature female-like black and orange-red abdomens, black eyes, orange-red eyespots and orange-red thoraxes with black, wide dorsal and narrow shoulder stripes. Forktail members of the Coenagrionidae pond damsel family need aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms.

North American eastern forktail damselfly habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 45 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 to minus 9.44 degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pepperbush, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge, water-lily and willow families promote eastern forktails.

Gray-blue powdery coatings over black upper thoraxes with blue-black dorsal and shoulder stripes, dark abdomens and green eyes and faces quicken adult female eastern forktail identifications. Mature males reveal, one day after molting into adulthood, black, blue and green abdomens, green eyespots, eyes and faces and green shoulder-striped and side-lined black thoraxes. Adults show off 0.79- to 1.29-inch (20- to 33-millimeter) head-body lengths, 0.59- to 1.02-inch (15- to 26-millimeter) abdomens and 0.43- to 0.75-inch (11- to 19-millimeter) hindwings.

Absence of two blue segments and of black-tipped abdomens trace furtive and Rambur's forktail males and orange-blue females in overlapping North American eastern forktail damselfly habitats.

adult male eastern forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis) at Gatineau Park, Quebec, eastern Canada; Saturday, July 9, 2011, 13:22: D. Gordon E. Robertson (Dger), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

adult female eastern forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis) in Guelph, southwestern Ontario, east central Canada; Monday, June 16, 2014, 19:37: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_Forktail_(Ischnura_verticalis),_Female_01.jpg

adult male eastern forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis) at Gatineau Park, Quebec, eastern Canada; Saturday, July 9, 2011, 13:22: D. Gordon E. Robertson (Dger), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_Forktail,_male,_Gatineau_Park.jpg

For further information:

Abbott, John C. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Bright, Ethan. "Ischnura verticalis (Say, 1839: 37 as Agrion) -- Eastern Forktail." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Zygoptera Selys, 1854 > Coenagrionidae, Kirby, 1890 (Pond Damselflies) > Ischnura Charpentier, 1840 (Forktails).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

"Ischnura verticalis." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Zygoptera > Coenagrionidae > Ischnura.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=3774

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2011.

Say, Thomas. "Descriptions of New North American Neuropterous Insects, and Observations on Some Already Described: 1. A. verticalis." Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. VIII, part I: 37-38. Philadelphia PA: Merrihew and Thompson, 1839.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24622988
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044106432990?urlappend=%3Bseq=47

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Suburban Houston Hutton Jewelry Store Robbery in Texas Jan. 10, 2018

Summary: The suburban Houston Hutton jewelry store robbery Jan. 10, 2018, is violent like the same-day Paris Ritz Hotel theft, but unlike in getaways and takeouts.

Surveillance video screenshot Jan. 10, 2018, records smash-and-grab suspects Smasher (left) with hammer, which he has just removed from under his left armpit, and Grabber (right); employee subsequently tries to stop them by throwing plate-like item on small table (left of display case): Sugar Land Police Department @SugarLandPD, via Facebook Jan. 18, 2018

The suburban Houston Hutton jewelry store robbery in Sugar Land, Texas, Jan. 10, 2018, adds another gash-and-grab theft to four million-dollar-plus jewel heists within the first 12 days of the new year.

The two perpetrators of the Hutton's Jewelry & Gifts store robbery bore a bash-and-bundle behavioral resemblance to the five-perpetrator Paris Ritz Hotel robbery Jan. 10, 2018. They compared not at all to the after-hours, key-accessed, non-violent carryout of the diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle from Cafe 33 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan. 2, 2018. They did not delay detection devices or depart without damaging displays like the Doge's Palace Al Thani diamond robbery duo in Venice, Italy, Jan. 3, 2018.

The suburban Houston Hutton jewelry store robbery entailed an extreme extraction of $2 million in diamond jewelry by two men before two eyewitnesses and surveillance cameras.

Footage furnished to ABC News online reporter Kevin Kraus and Houston ABC station KTRK focuses upon one man feigning interest in engagement rings in display cases.

Footage gives the swift succession of events of the man grabbing jewels from glass cases gashed by a hammer-wielding companion into pieces that go every which-way. It has two men heading, in faded jeans and white-soled footwear, at 12:20 p.m. local time (6:20 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time UTC) to rearmost display cases. It indicates the man interested in rings in a black-red cap and Chicago Bulls jacket and the dark-jacketed hammer-wielder in a white visor cap on backwards.

Sugar Land spokesman Doug Adolph judges that "We have not connected our suspects to any other cases, but it's a safe bet they've done that before."

Sugar Land knows no recent robberies by 200- to 220-pound (90.72- to 99.79-kilogram) 30-plus-year-olds 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet (1.75 to 1.83 meters) tall.

Sugar Land's incorporated city logo, name and seal from 1959 look back to refineries located in 1879 on Mexican land grants launched as plantations in 1836. Mexican grants, William Kyle's, Benjamin Terry's and Nathaniel Williams' plantations and Edward Cunningham's and Littleberry Ellis' refineries manage 21st-century makeovers at Town Center Boulevard North businesses. Fort Bend County's politico-economic unit nets Town Center businesses such as Kent and Cay Hutton's Jewelry & Gifts and the suburban Houston Hutton jewelry store robbery.

The suburban Houston Hutton jewelry store robbery occurred to experienced business owner-operators with 24- and 26-year-long jewelry careers respectively in Roswell, New Mexico, and Maui, Hawaii.

Deutsch & Deutsch jewelers on Westheimer Road in River Oaks Dec. 22, 2017, at 3:30 a.m. locally (9:30 a.m. UTC) presents the only recent Houston-area heist.

One of two intruders quit the 23-year business by rappelling through roof holes and realizing 15- to 20-foot (4.57- to 6.09-meter) run-jumps to the next roof. On-site evidence ranges from bloody trails to broken glass, ditched jewels and footage of axe-wielding, gloved, hooded, sweat-shirted intruders retreating from prompt responses to security alarms. Owner-operator Lance Deutsch said, "They don't realize that many are locked up in a safe at night so you break in, there's nothing in the glasses."

The suburban Houston Hutton jewelry store robbery teamed Paris Ritz Hotel theft-type tactics with Cafe 33- and Doge's Palace-type takeouts for tentatively 100 percent success rates.

Screenshot from surveillance video Jan. 10, 2018, shows smash-and-grab suspects Smasher (left) and Grabber (right) just before they exit Hutton's Jewelry & Gifts, Houston, Texas: Sugar Land Police Department @SugarLandPD, via Facebook Jan. 18, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Screenshot from surveillance video Jan. 10, 2018, records smash-and-grab suspects Smasher (left) with hammer, which he has just removed from under his left armpit, and Grabber (right); employee subsequently tries to stop them by throwing plate-like item on small table (left of display case): Sugar Land Police Department @SugarLandPD, via Facebook Jan. 18, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/SugarLandPD/videos/vb.1449658385284129/1994158770834085/

Screenshot from surveillance video Jan. 10, 2018, shows smash-and-grab suspects Smasher (left) and Grabber (right) just before they exit Hutton's Jewelry & Gifts, Houston, Texas: Sugar Land Police Department @SugarLandPD, via Facebook Jan. 18, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/SugarLandPD/videos/vb.1449658385284129/1994158770834085/


For further information:

Hernandez, Haley; Hernandez, Cathy; and Cochran, Amanda. 22 December 2017. "At Least 2 Sought in Jewelry Store Heist Near River Oaks." Click 2 Houston > News > Local News.
Available @ https://www.click2houston.com/news/houston-police-investigating-river-oaks-early-morning-jewelry-store-heist

Kraus, Kevin. 19 January 2018. "Thieves Smash Display Cases at Houston Store, Make Off with $2M in Jewelry." ABC News > US.
Available @ http://abcnews.go.com/US/brazen-thieves-smash-display-cases-houston-store-make/story?id=52456810

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 January 2018. "Al Thani Collection Brooch and Earrings Stolen at Venice Exhibition." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/al-thani-collection-brooch-and-earrings.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 January 2018. "Stolen Diamond-Adorned Russo-Baltique Vodka Bottle Found Dented, Empty." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/stolen-diamond-adorned-russo-baltique.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 January 2018. "Paris Ritz Hotel Robbery: Jewels Back, Three of Five Suspects Jailed." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/paris-ritz-hotel-robbery-jewels-back.html

Sugar Land Police Department. "Smash-and-Grab Suspects in $2M Jewelry Heist." Facebook. Jan. 18, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/SugarLandPD/videos/vb.1449658385284129/1994158770834085/

First 2018 Eclipse Is Blue Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31

Summary: The first 2018 eclipse is the blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, happening during January’s second full moon, known as a blue moon.

graphics and details of blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The first 2018 eclipse is a blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, that happens during January’s second full moon, known as a blue moon.

The blue moon lunar eclipse of Wednesday, Jan. 31, begins at 10:51:15 Coordinated Universal Time (12:51:15 a.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time) with the instant of first exterior contact between the moon and Earth’s penumbra, the lighter, outer region of Earth’s shadow. The event ends at 16:08:27 UTC (6:08:27 a.m. HAST) with the instant of last exterior contact between moon and Earth’s penumbra. The blue moon lunar eclipse lasts for 5 hours 17 minutes 12 seconds.

The partial phase of the blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, begins at 11:48:27 UTC (1:48:27 a.m. HAST) with the instant of first exterior contact between the moon and Earth’s umbra, the darker, inner region of Earth’s shadow. Partiality ends at 15:11:11 UTC (5:11:11 a.m. HAST) with the instant of last exterior contact between the moon and Earth’s umbra. Partiality’s time span is 3 hours 22 minutes 44 seconds.

The total phase of the blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, begins at 12:51:47 UTC (2:51:47 a.m. HAST) with the instant of first interior contact between the moon and Earth’s umbra. Totality ends at 14:07:51 UTC (4:07:51 a.m. HAST) with the instant of last interior contact between the moon and Earth’s umbra. Totality’s time span is 1 hour 16 minutes 4 seconds.

For lunar eclipses, greatest eclipse references the instant of the moon’s closest passage to the axis of Earth’s shadow. The greatest eclipse for the blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, takes place at 13:29:51 UTC (3:29:51 a.m. HAST). Retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak's EclipseWise web site places the greatest eclipse's occurrence over the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) west of the Hawaiian Islands.

The blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, centers on the Pacific Ocean. Oceanically, entire eclipse visibility also favors the Arctic Ocean. Continentally, eclipse visibility from beginning to end favors central and eastern Asia, most of Australia and far northern North America.

In North America, Canada experiences entire eclipse visibility throughout Yukon Territory and in much of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Most of British Columbia and the northwestern corner of Alberta also enjoy entire eclipse visibility. Entire eclipse visibility favors only two U.S. states: Alaska on the North American mainland and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.

Arctic Ocean and Pacific Ocean islands are favorably sited for entire eclipse visibility. Northern Greenland joins Canada’s, Norway’s and Russia’s Arctic islands in the entire eclipse experience. In Maritime Southeast Asia, all of New Guinea and the Philippines and much of Borneo participate in entire eclipse visibility. Other Pacific island nations favored by entire eclipse visibility include Japan, New Zealand and Samoa.

Oceanic areas with no eclipse visibility at all include most of the Atlantic Ocean and the Southern Ocean. Continentally, most of the continents of Africa, Antarctica, Europe and South America are excluded for eclipse visibility.

The blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, opens the 2018 eclipse quintet of two total lunar eclipses and three partial solar eclipses. The year’s second total lunar eclipse happens Friday, July 27, and favors the Indian Ocean and adjacent continents.

The year’s first partial solar eclipse succeeds 2018’s first total lunar eclipse. The first partial solar eclipse takes place Thursday, Feb. 15, as a Southern Hemisphere event favoring Antarctica and southern South America. The year’s second partial solar eclipse happens Friday, July 13, as a Southern Hemisphere event favoring the Southern Ocean and southeastern Australia.

The year’s third partial solar eclipse follows 2018’s second total lunar eclipse and also closes the year’s eclipse lineup. The third partial solar eclipse occurs Saturday, Aug. 11, as a Northern Hemisphere event especially favoring the Arctic Circle.

As the first 2018 eclipse, the blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, stands out as an eclipse favoring both Southern and Northern Hemispheres and especially as a lunar eclipse coinciding with a blue moon.

Earth as viewed from the center of the moon during Jan. 31, 2018’s blue moon total lunar eclipse’s greatest eclipse: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

graphics and details of blue moon total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2018Jan31T.pdf

Earth as viewed from the center of the moon during Jan. 31, 2018’s blue moon total lunar eclipse’s greatest eclipse: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2018Jan31.png

For further information:

Emspak, Jesse. “Lunar Eclipse 2018 Guide: When, Where & How to See It.” Space.com. Skywatching. Dec. 31, 2017.
Available @ https://www.space.com/33786-lunar-eclipse-guide.html

Espenak, Fred. “Glossary of Solar Eclipse Terms.” NASA Eclipse Web Site.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/help/SEglossary.html

Espenak, Fred. “Key to Lunar Eclipse Global Maps.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEhistory/LEplotkey.html

Espenak, Fred. “Total Lunar Eclipse of 2018 Jan 31.” EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses 2001-2100.
Available @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2018Jan31Tprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Total Lunar Eclipse of 2018 Jan 31.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses: 2011-2020.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2018Jan31T.pdf

Espenak, Fred. “Total Lunar Eclipse of January 31.” EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2018.
Available @ https://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2018.html

“January 31, 2018 -- Total Lunar Eclipse.” TimeAndDate > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2018-january-31

Marriner, Derdriu. “Blue Moon Month January 2018 Opens New Year With Two Full Moons.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/blue-moon-month-january-2018-opens-new.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Crater Timings for Jan. 31, 2018, Total Lunar Eclipse Show Umbral Span.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/crater-timings-for-jan-31-2018-total.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Jan. 31, 2018, Blue Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Cycle 124.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/jan-31-2018-blue-moon-total-lunar.html

McClure, Bruce. “Super Blue Moon Eclipse on January 31.” EarthSky > Tonight. Jan. 30, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/?p=270280

Rao, Joe. “First Blue Moon Total Lunar Eclipse in 150 Years Coming This Month.” Space.com. Skywatching. Jan. 1, 2018.
Available @ https://www.space.com/39241-first-blue-moon-total-eclipse-150-years.html

Walker, John. “2018 Jan 31 13:29 UTC.” Fourmilab > Earth and Moon Viewer.
Available @ http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth