Look to the skies on Sept. 7-8 to witness Earth’s shadow roll over the lunar disk, giving rise to a deep pink “blood moon.” Here’s what to anticipate throughout every part of this week’s whole lunar eclipse.
A complete lunar eclipse happens when Earth passes between the moon and solar, quickly bathing your entire lunar disk in its shadow. This in flip causes our pure satellite tv for pc to glow a deep pink, because the scattered gentle from each dawn and sundown on Earth is bent onto the lunar disk.
Several distinct phases shall be on show in the course of the Sept. 7-8 whole lunar eclipse, which shall be seen in its entirety throughout swathes of Asia, western Australia and japanese Europe, whereas different international locations like Spain and Norway will witness solely a partial eclipse.
You can safely view a lunar eclipse via the glass of a telescope, binoculars, or with the bare eye, so there is no want to fret about utilizing the specialised eclipse glasses and filters wanted to guard your eyesight from the sunshine of a photo voltaic eclipse!
If you reside outdoors of the viewing space or cannot make it outdoors to view the eclipse stay, fortunately you may watch the blood moon total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7 with these free livestreams.
Read on to discover exactly what you should expect from each stage of this week’s total lunar eclipse.
The stages of the total lunar eclipse
The moon enters Earth’s penumbra
The soft, outer part of Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra, will begin to sweep across the lunar surface at 11:28 a.m. EDT (1528 GMT) on Sept. 7. The shading of the lunar surface during this phase is incredibly subtle and will first become perceptible as a slight darkening on the upper left of the lunar disk a little under an hour after the start of this initial penumbral phase.
Sharp-eyed observers may see this gentle shadow creep eastward across the basaltic plains of the lunar maria that scar this part of the lunar disk, before Earth’s silhouette makes a much grander entrance just a few minutes later.
Earth’s inner shadow falls upon the lunar disk
The moon will begin its drift into the deepest part of Earth’s shadow, the umbra, at 12:27 p.m. EDT (1627 GMT). The shadow seen during this partial phase of the lunar eclipse is far sharper than the subtly diffuse one of the earlier penumbral phase. Earth’s vast silhouette will appear to consume the upper left extreme of the lunar disk within minutes of the onset of the umbral phase, before advancing eastward at a dramatic pace.
By the time Earth’s umbral silhouette has covered 75% of the lunar surface, the moon’s shadowed regions may appear to adopt a deep red-brown color, as longer, redder wavelengths of sunlight are refracted onto the moon’s surface by our planet’s dense atmosphere.
Totality
The crescendo of the Sept. 7-8 lunar eclipse will begin at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) as the final sliver of the lunar disk falls into the shadowy embrace of Earth’s umbra, signaling the start of totality. During this phase, the lunar disk will transform into a spectacular blood moon, as it bathes in the red-orange refracted light of every sunset and sunrise happening on Earth at that moment. The brightness and color of the moon during totality will depend on a number of factors ranging from the weather conditions on Earth to the amount of dust present in our atmosphere.
Totality will last for approximately 82 minutes according to Time and Date, with the purpose of most eclipse occurring at 2:11 a.m. EDT (1811 GMT). During this time, viewers could discover the decrease portion of the lunar disk round Mare Nubium (the Sea of Clouds) seem barely lighter than the higher area of the lunar disk, which passes nearer to the middle of Earth’s huge umbral shadow.
Earth’s shadow slips from the lunar disk
Earth’s umbra will start to slide from the lunar disk at 2:52 p.m. EDT (1852 GMT), revealing a shiny crescent on the left fringe of its disk that can develop to engulf the whole lot of the moon’s floor, banishing the ruddy glow of totality. This partial eclipse part will final a bit over an hour, after which our planet’s penumbral shadow will recede left to proper throughout the lunar disk, with the eclipse drawing to an in depth at 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT).
The Sept. 7-8 whole lunar eclipse shall be adopted by a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, which will be visible from parts of southern Australia, a slew of Pacific islands and Antarctica.
Editor’s Note: If you capture a picture of the total lunar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo(s) and comments, along with your name and the location of your shoot to spacephotos@space.com.