A partial lunar eclipse will take over the night sky on Saturday for a dazzling show that will allow sky-gazers to see part of Earth\u2019s shadow reflected on the moon. <\/p>\n
For those in the eclipse path \u2014 which spans all of Europe, Africa, most of Asia and western Australia,\u00a0according to EarthSky\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the moon will appear to have a bite taken out of it during the partial eclipse from 3:34 p.m. to 4:52 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n
Surrounding the partial eclipse will be a penumbral eclipse that begins at 2:01 p.m. ET and causes the moon to dim slightly from the reflection of Earth\u2019s outer shadow, otherwise\u00a0known as the penumbra, before the planet\u2019s inner and darker shadow, the umbra, creates the partial eclipse. People along the eastern coasts of North and South America will be able to see the tail end of the penumbral eclipse, just before it ends at\u00a06:26 p.m. ET,\u00a0according to Time and Date. <\/p>\n
While the moon will not turn red as it does during a total lunar eclipse \u2014 when light from the sun only reaches the moon after passing through Earth\u2019s dusty and cloudy atmosphere,\u00a0according to NASA\u00a0\u2014 the partial eclipse will provide an easy-to-see show that does not require any extra equipment, said\u00a0Dr. Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as you are on the night side of the Earth and you can see the moon, you can see this happening,\u201d Schmoll said. \u201cIf there (are) observatories or places with telescopes that are nearby, or you have a telescope, those are always nice to break out to see some more of those details up close, but it\u2019s not necessary.\u201d <\/p>\n
The upcoming partial lunar eclipse will coincide with October\u2019s full moon, otherwise known as the hunter\u2019s moon \u2014 likely named so because it once served as a warning for hunters to prepare for the cold winter months ahead, according to the\u00a0Old Farmer\u2019s Almanac. <\/p>\n
Lunar eclipses only occur when the moon is completely full, as the sun, Earth and moon need to align just so for the event to happen. Full moons occur\u00a0when the moon is behind Earth\u00a0and opposite of the sun \u2014 a lunar eclipse also requires this arrangement, but the celestial bodies need to be\u00a0precisely aligned\u00a0for the moon to be in Earth\u2019s shadow as it is cast from the sun, Schmoll said. <\/p>\n
A total lunar eclipse is more aligned than a partial lunar eclipse, with the moon moving\u00a0completely into Earth\u2019s shadow, while a partial lunar eclipse features the moon passing through only part of Earth\u2019s shadow. <\/p>\n
The moon and Earth\u2019s orbits make it so an average of\u00a0two lunar eclipses occur per year. The last lunar eclipse was a\u00a0penumbral eclipse\u00a0in May in which the moon dimmed as it orbited into Earth\u2019s outer shadow, and the next lunar eclipse won\u2019t happen\u00a0until March 2024. <\/p>\n
Lunar eclipses and solar eclipses tend to come in pairs, since solar eclipses require the moon to be in its new moon phase, Schmoll said. The partial lunar eclipse on Saturday comes two weeks after an annular solar eclipse that made a\u00a0\u201cring of fire\u201d in the sky\u00a0over the Americas. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost people don\u2019t get to see the Earth from any other perspective than living on it, except for astronauts and very few people, so being able to see that shadow is, I think, always a really interesting thing,\u201d Schmoll said. \u201cIt is a reminder that we are part of this larger universe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Be on the lookout for\u00a0Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, which will also be visible to those who are on the night side of Earth during the partial lunar eclipse, Schmoll said. <\/p>\n
The next lunar eclipse will be a penumbral lunar eclipse that will be visible to stargazers in North America and will not occur until\u00a0March 25, 2024. Two weeks afterward, a total solar eclipse will also be visible in North America on\u00a0April 8, 2024. <\/p>\n
While this weekend\u2019s partial lunar eclipse is the last chance to see an eclipse for 2023, there are other reasons to look up to the night sky for the remainder of the year, including the Orionid meteor shower, which can be seen up until its finality on November 22, and five other\u00a0meteor shower peaks left to catch: <\/p>\n
\u25cf Southern Taurids: November 5-6 <\/p>\n
\u25cf Northern Taurids: November 11-12 <\/p>\n
\u25cf Leonids: November 17-18 <\/p>\n
\u25cf Geminids: December 13-14 <\/p>\n
\u25cf Ursids: December 21-22 <\/p>\n
There are two full moons remaining in 2023,\u00a0according to the Farmers\u2019 Almanac: <\/p>\n
\u25cf November 27: Beaver moon <\/p>\n
\u25cf December 26: Cold moon <\/p>\n\n
A partial lunar eclipse will take over the night sky on Saturday for a dazzling show that will allow sky-gazers to see part of Earth\u2019s shadow reflected on the moon. For those in the eclipse path \u2014 which spans all of Europe, Africa, most of Asia and western Australia,\u00a0according to EarthSky\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the moon will appear to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}