Since the beginning of time, the moon has been the sun's less interesting sibling—it's like the Frank Stallone or Don Swayze of the sky. But tonight, there will be a reason to pay attention to Ol' Pockmarked McMonthy: a lunar eclipse!
Tonight's event will be viewable to the vast majority of the globe (sorry, Australia and far western Asia). Most of North America will have an opportunity to catch at least some of the show, but the best seats are reserved those on the East Coast (weather permitting).
In New York City, for example, the eclipse will begin at around 5:30 p.m. ET and continue through the darkening night (sunset is scheduled for 5:25 p.m. ET in Gotham). Meanwhile, in the Midwest and West Coast a late moonrise will hamper early viewing (in Chicago, for example, the eclipse begins at 4:34 p.m. CT, but moonrise isn't until 5:15 p.m. PT; in Los Angeles it starts at 2:34 p.m. PT, but moonrise isn't until 5:34 p.m. PT).
Image: Wikipedia / PIRULITON (own work)
The good news for those of you out west is that lunar eclipses are hours-long events so you should be able to catch something. Peak eclipse is scheduled to take place around two hours in (7:43 p.m. in NYC; 6:43 p.m. in Chicago; the West Coast will only see the waning portion), and the whole show won't finish up until two hours after that. You can head over to TimeAndDate for a handy personalized timeline based on your location.
What to Expect (When You're Expecting an Eclipse)
Tonight's eclipse will be a near-total penumbral eclipse. The Earth's shadow consists of two distinct regions: the ultra-dark umbra in the center and the hazier penumbra on either side. Tonight, the moon will pass through (but not completely fall into) our planet's penumbra. From the viewpoint of those of us on Earth, a darkened region will appear to crawl across the surface of the full moon, before slowly receding once again.
Related
- A Solar Eclipse at the Top of the WorldA Solar Eclipse at the Top of the World
Penumbral eclipses stand in contrast to a regular (and more-striking) "lunar eclipse," in which the moon dips either completely or partially into the deepest darkest part of the Earth's shadow (the umbra). In the case of a penumbral eclipse, a casual observer (especially those bathed in the light pollution of modernity) might not even notice anything out of the ordinary, but keen watchers will see the celestial ballet in motion.
In our increasingly balkanized video-on-demand world, a natural event like an eclipse is one of the last remaining mass-spectator events. While solar eclipses are striking events, they are highly localized; lunar eclipses, on the other hand, are visible to wide swaths of the planet. Tonight, at the exact same time, skywatchers in Hong Kong, Berlin, Abuja, Cuzco, and Miami will be looking up at the moon and experiencing their place in the greater cosmos. And that's not nothin'. #Kumbaya.
If you miss tonight's event due to bad weather or other obligations, there will be a far more impressive total solar eclipse on August 7 that will be visible in some form all over North America. This eclipse will cut a clear swath through the center of the country, which is why some have taken to calling it the "Great American Eclipse." It's nice to share things with the rest of the world, but it's also good to have things just for us! USA!