Post by Soner Güngen (@ soner)
Catch this month's lunar eclipse, the longest of the century
To enjoy a spectacular Blood Moon, all you need is a clear sky.
Lunar Eclipse
On Friday, Nov. 19, the Sun, Earth, and the Moon (in that order) will line up and most of Moon will trek through Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of its shadow. Although this won’t be a total lunar eclipse, it’ll be darn close. At mid-eclipse, 97 percent of our only natural satellite will be covered by Earth’s umbra.
Observers with clear skies should be able to spot nearly all the effects that are visible during a total lunar eclipse. This wouldn’t be the case if it were a partial solar eclipse (with 3 percent of the Sun’s face uncovered, you would miss out on Baily’s beads, diamond rings, and the solar corona). In other words, we’re lucky Luna is the star of this month’s show.
Who will see it?
Anyone located on the nighttime side of our planet during this eclipse will catch at least some of it. Observers throughout North America will have the prime views, with only people along the Atlantic coast missing the Moon’s passage through the penumbra (the lighter, outer part of Earth’s shadow), which usually isn’t visible anyway.
South American residents will witness some of the partial eclipse, as will those throughout Australia and central and eastern China. Inhabitants of eastern India and western China will see only some of the penumbral eclipse. Meanwhile, like North America, eastern Russia will have a view of the whole event. Unfortunately, none of the eclipse will be visible for most of Europe and Africa.
Tags: #astronomy
Link: https://astronomy.com/magazine/news/2021/11/catch-this-months-lunar-eclipse
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