Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Lunar Eclipse Tonight! Night of 18 - 19 November

In about twenty-four hours from publication of this post the Full Moon will be entering the Umbra or full shadow of the Earth for a near-total Lunar Eclipse. 

Here's a video giving a one-minute orientation to the night sky as it will appear during the Lunar Eclipse, which should be visible across North America. 

This video shows the sky (using the excellent Stellarium free planetarium app) as it will look on the night of 18 November through early morning 19 November, from the perspective of a viewer in my part of California (about 35 North latitude). Viewers on the East Coast should add three hours to these times, but will still be able to observe the complete eclipse during the hours before sunrise (given a clear view of the sky with no clouds). 

For other parts of the world, consult your local timetables to see if the Moon will be above the horizon during the hours of the Lunar Eclipse. 

Here is an excellent writeup from Sky & Telescope discussing more details of this particular Lunar Eclipse.

I hope you will have the opportunity to observe this event in person, if you are located in a part of the Earth which will be opposite the Moon during its passage through our planet's shadow.