See the table below and diagrams at the end for times of key events for the lunar eclipse: Eclipse Event The stages of the eclipse occur simultaneously for everyone who can see the Moon, but the actual clock times depend on your time zone. “The Moon will be in Taurus and pleasingly placed some 6° - approximately the width of three fingers held together at arm’s length - lower left of the pretty Pleiades open star cluster at the time of maximum eclipse,” says Diana Hannikainen (pronounced HUHN-ih-KY-nen), observing editor at Sky & Telescope. “This should provide great opportunities for some fun photos.” This means that the Moon’s orbital motion will be slower, thereby increasing the duration of the event. It happens 1.7 days before the Moon reaches its apogee, or the farthest point from Earth, in its orbit. In fact, not only will it be the longest partial lunar eclipse this century, it’s also the longest partial lunar eclipse between February 18, 1440, and February 8, 2669. The partial eclipse is predicted to last longer than usual, nearly 3½ hours. Much of western Europe should see the early penumbral stages before the Moon dips below the horizon. In South America the eclipse happens as dawn is brightening, while for most of Australia the Moon will already be eclipsed as it rises. Northeasternmost Asia will also see the entire event. For Hawai’i and Alaska, the event starts to unfold before midnight. time zones, and mid-eclipse occurs in the wee hours of the morning (at 4:03 a.m. November’s eclipse favors night owls and early risers, because the full Moon passes through the umbra after midnight on November 19th for the four main U.S. Weather permitting, viewers across almost all of North America will witness the entirety of the event. But it’s a very deep one: About 99% of the lunar disk’s area (97% of its diameter) will pass through the umbra - the dark inner part of Earth’s shadow - leaving a tiny, silvery sliver of the Moon’s southern edge peeking out. However, unlike the total lunar eclipse on May 26th this year, the November 18–19 event is a partial eclipse. Very late Thursday night and early Friday morning, you have a chance to watch the Moon darken and turn a reddish hue as it slips into Earth’s shadow. Note to Editors/Producers: This release is accompanied by high-quality graphics see the end of this release for the images and links to download. Susanna Kohler, Communications Manager and Press Officer, American Astronomical Society Gary Seronik, Consulting Editor, Sky & Telescope Traveling 30 miles (48 km) a second, Mercury will take 7.5 hours to cross the face of the sun, which is about 864,300 miles (1.39 million km) in diameter, or about 109 times larger than Earth.Diana Hannikainen, Observing Editor, Sky & Telescope The tiny planet, slightly larger than Earth’s moon, will start off as a small black dot on the edge of the sun at 7:12 a.m. In those regions, the entire transit will occur during daylight hours, according to Sky and Telescope magazine.īut Mercury is too small to see without high-powered binoculars or a telescope, and looking directly at the sun, even with sunglasses, could cause permanent eye damage.įortunately NASA and astronomy organizations are providing virtual ringside seats for the show by live-streaming images of the transit in its entirety and providing expert commentary. The best vantage points to observe the celestial event, known to astronomers as a transit, are eastern North America, South America, Western Europe and Africa, assuming clouds are not obscuring the sun.
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