Stig Östlund

torsdag, februari 09, 2017

Lunar Eclipse this Friday Night



LUNAR ECLIPSE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT: The full Moon will lose some of its usual luster on Friday night, Feb. 10th, as an eerie shadow creeps across the lunar disk.  It's a penumbral lunar eclipse, visible from parts of every continent except Australia. Graphic artist Larry Koehn created this animation of the event:


<


A penumbral eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the pale outskirts of Earth's shadow. It is much less dramatic than a total lunar eclipse. In fact, when observers are not alerted beforehand, they sometimes do not realize an eclipse is underway. Nevertheless, the shadow of Earth can be plainly visible to the naked eye.

The best time to look is Friday night around 07:44 p.m. Eastern Time (00:44 UT Saturday). That's the time of maximum coverage when Earth's shadow creates a clear gradient of light and shadow across the lunar disk. Check out this global visibility map to see if you are in the eclipse zone:



According to folklore, a full Moon in February is called the "Snow Moon." For northerners, it often feels like the brightest Moon of the year as moonlight glistens off the white landscape. For a while on Friday night, the Snow Moon won't seem quite so bright.


Bloggarkiv