Penumbral lunar eclipse
Folks in Japan, and japanese half of Australia, the Americas, the western half of Africa, western Europe – and several other oceans and components of Antarctic – will see a deep penumbral lunar eclipse on March 24-25, 2024. This eclipse begins the eclipse season throughout which we’ll even have the April 8, 2024, total eclipse of the sun … shortly attributable to be seen by thousands and thousands in North America.
Penumbral eclipse begins at 4:53 UTC on March 25, 2024. That’s 11:53 a.m. CDT on March 24 in North America.
Best eclipse is at 7:12 UTC on March 25 (2:12 a.m. CDT) with a penumbral magnitude of 0.9577. In different phrases, at best eclipse, almost all the moon will probably be contained in the Earth’s outer penumbral shadow. The moon won’t ever go into Earth’s darker umbral shadow. So it’s going to by no means appear as if a darkish chew has been taken out of the moon. As an alternative, it’ll be a delicate darkened shading on the moon, and, at mid-eclipse, solely a small sliver of the moon will fall outdoors this darkish shading.
Penumbral eclipse ends at 9:33 UTC on March 25 (4:33 a.m. CDT).
Period of eclipse: This can be a deep penumbral lunar eclipse with a length of 279.9 minutes.
Observe: A penumbral lunar eclipse is essentially the most delicate form of lunar eclipse, one which most individuals received’t even discover. The moon’s shadow received’t be detected till the disk of the moon is immersed in about 2/3 of the penumbral shadow. In fact, this relies on the atmospheric situations and an individual’s visible acuity.
The full moon and eclipses
If this full moon have been really reverse the sun, there’d be a total umbral eclipse of the moon. That’s, the darkest a part of Earth’s shadow – the umbra – would cowl the moon at mid-eclipse. However this full moon in March sweeps to the north of the Earth’s umbra. So no total or partial lunar eclipse in the Earth’s dark shadow can happen.
As an alternative, the full moon virtually absolutely passes via the Earth’s penumbral shadow. So it’s a really deep penumbral eclipse. At no time will Earth’s darkish shadow take a “chew” out of the moon. As an alternative, penumbral eclipses are all about delicate shadings.
The March 25 penumbral lunar eclipse happens when the moon is within the constellation of Virgo the Maiden.
Discover the moon’s path with respect to Earth’s penumbral shadows beneath.
Go to Timeanddate.com to get a precise timing of the eclipse out of your location.
Eclipses in 2024
The March 24-25, 2024, penumbral lunar eclipse is adopted two weeks later by a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The very fact is, these two eclipses happen inside a single eclipse season.
An eclipse season is an approximate 35-day interval throughout which it’s inevitable for not less than two (and presumably three) eclipses to happen.
Then later this 12 months, the September-October 2024 eclipse season will characteristic a really shallow partial lunar eclipse on September 17-18, 2024, and an annular solar eclipse on October 2, 2024.
Maps and knowledge for the total lunar eclipse
Go to Timeanddate.com to get a precise timing of the eclipse out of your location.
Penumbral lunar eclipse pictures from our EarthSky neighborhood
Submit your photo to EarthSky here.
Extra assets
Backside line: A penumbral lunar eclipse – lasting over 4 hours – occurs in a single day on March 24-25, 2024. It’s seen from components of Antarctica, western half of Africa, western Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Americas, Pacific Ocean, Japan, and japanese half of Australia.
Go to Timeanddate.com to get a precise timing of the eclipse out of your location.
EarthSky’s monthly night sky guide: Visible planets and more