Totality Touches the Moon
An eclipse of the moon can be classified as a stressful astronomical event. However, watching a total lunar eclipse is all easy and fun. For the continental U.S., the eclipse can be seen partly by observers across the country, with the most favorite spot being the west. The total lunar eclipse happened on November 8, lasting six hours, and people could see without any equipment, staring at it all they wanted. For another total lunar eclipse to be visible from the U.S., it will be on March 14, 2025. On a planet with a clear sky, an observer at nightside can view the dramatic progression of shadow sliding along as it turns the satellite deep orange-red.
What Time and Where
The eclipse occurred at 3:02:17AM EST when the moon entered the earth’s penumbra, while the partial eclipse happened at 4:09:12 AM when the moon touched the earth’s umbra. Totality starts at 5:16:39 A.M, with the greatest eclipse at 5:59:09 A.M, and ends at 6:41:37 A.M, lasting for 1 25minutes. After totality, the partial phase ends at 7:49:03 A.M., and the moon exits the penumbra, ending the eclipse at 8:56:08. A.M., taking less than 3 hours 40 minutes. During a lunar eclipse, the longest total hour is 1 hour 46.6 minutes. Therefore, on November 8, the entire eclipse will be visible to much of the world, excluding much of Europe and Africa, with north-western parts of America seeing some totality, while in eastern Maine, observers will witness more than an hour of totality.
Rate of Darkness
Depending on the totality, the moon looks different because it takes diverse points through the earth’s shadow, passing close to the center and sometimes crossing the outskirts. Eicher (2) states that the moon’s surface gets darker when the path is more central, particularly at a mid-eclipse. On November 8, the totality was anticipated not to reach the longest possible duration since only the moon’s southern half was perceived to be darker than the northern half. Most lunar eclipse observers use some of the time during totality to approximate how dark the event is because the eclipse lasts on the order of hours.
Danjon scale is used in estimating the darkness starting from 0 to 4. At 0, the event is very dark with the nearly invisible moon. At 1, there is a dark eclipse with a grey or brown colored moon, and at two, there is a rust-colored moon with a darker center and lighter outer edge. In addition, at 3, the event appears as a brick red moon with a yellow edge, and at 4, a copper or orange-colored eclipse with a bluish rim.
The Starry Sky
An eclipse occurs in a fall, and the traditional fall constellations lie opposite the sun, surrounding the full moon. During the eclipse on November 8, the moon was projected to be in Aries the Ram. Observers will be diverted when they observe the Pleiades throughout the first half of the eclipse. The brightest star cluster of the sky lies 150 northeast of the moon. Looking at the stars using binoculars provides a different perspective than when viewed just with eyes. At the eclipse’s start, Jupiter and Mars glare nicely on either side of the moon. However, the further one gets to the east, the more likely Jupiter is set.
No Harm in Looking
The U.S. is expected to experience a solar eclipse in 2023, after which there will be a total solar eclipse. Individuals promoting these events focus on safety in viewing, unlike the lunar eclipse, which poses no danger to the eyes. According to Eicher (2), observers do not need filters to view a lunar eclipse. The view of the event is possible from any point of the city, and those that go out of the town can see many more starts during totality. Irrespective of where one is watching from, it is essential to be comfortable, stay warm, and enjoy the sublime celestial geometry of a total lunar eclipse.
Work Cited
Eicher, David. ‘‘The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine.’’ Astronomy, vol. 50, no.11, 2022, p.1–61.