August 7th’s Partial Lunar Eclipse
Two weeks before the much-awaited solar eclipse, the Moon clips Earth's umbra to create a partial lunar eclipse visible from the Eastern Hemisphere.
When the Sun, Earth, and Moon line up in space, eclipses sometimes come in pairs. So, as everyone in North America readies for August 21'st solar eclipse (occurring at new Moon), a partial lunar eclipse sneaks in just two weeks earlier on August 7th, at the preceding full Moon.
August's partial lunar eclipse is a glancing event that won't be visible from the Americas.
Sky & Telescope diagram
However, North Americans find themselves out of luck for this partial cover-up of the lunar disk. The Moon's southern limb clips Earth's umbra, going about a quarter of the way in, with mid-eclipse at 18:20 Universal Time. This timing means that those in eastern Europe and Africa will see the darkening at or before sunset on the 7th, while it occurs before sunrise on the 8th for those in eastern Asia and Australia.
This glancing encounter with Earth’s core shadow, the umbra, takes nearly 2 hours from start to finish. Before and after this window, keep alert for evidence of dusky penumbral shading on the Moon's southern limb. It should become obvious within about 40 minutes of the beginning and end of the partial phases.
Visit this site for details and a world map of the eclipse's visibility.
If you aren't in the part of the world that will see this lunar eclipse, you can watch the eclipse over Rome virtually. You can also remotely view the eclipse over Hong Kong.
The post August 7th’s Partial Lunar Eclipse appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
//AUTHOR;
PUBLISHED; August 03, 2017 at 04:33AM
No comments