Ruxz_M-rbu5hJUPoenSULdy6Wzk The Science of My Life: Lunar Eclipse tonight!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Lunar Eclipse tonight!


“The total eclipse phase begins at 1:07 a.m. Tuesday, April 15. The moon will be completely darkened by the Earth’s shadow from 1:46 to 2:25 a.m. Tuesday morning and the eclipse will be finished at 3:33 a.m.”

 

From 1:07 to 2:25 AM, (the darkest time occurring at 1:46 a.m.) the moon will appear dark red-orange.  It will appear darkest at 1:46 AM.

 

Also, while the conspicuous partial phase (with the moon missing a “bite”) ends at 3:33 AM, the moon will still be in the earth’s partial (penumbral) shadow for the next hour, during which time it will appear slightly darker than normal along its right edge, less so as it moves out of the penumbra, and will be completely out of the penumbra by 4:39 AM (although most people won’t notice anything unusual about its appearance after 4:00 AM or so, since the amount of shading will be so slight).

 

Here’s a graphic that may make it clearer.  Note that all times are MDT, and the moon moves from right to left over the course of the night:

 

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