Head outside early on Friday morning to see a beautiful lunar eclipse
Get ready to wake up very, very early this Friday morning! A beautiful lunar eclipse will grace the sky before dawn.
A deep partial eclipse of the Moon will occur between 2:18 am ET and 5:45 am ET on the morning of Friday, Nov. 19. During that time, the Moon will pass through the shadow of the Earth, putting on an eerie and beautiful show for early-morning skywatchers.
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon moves into the umbra, which is the deep inner shadow of the Earth. During a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon is inside that dark shadow of the Earth. During a partial lunar eclipse, only part of the Moon is inside the umbra.
The eclipse this Friday morning will technically be a partial eclipse. Having said that, at its peak (4:02 am ET) 97 percent of the moon will be inside the umbra; so this event will be very, very similar to a total eclipse.
A lunar eclipse is one of the most beautiful sights in astronomy, and the next total lunar eclipse in the northeast won’t occur until May 2022. You won’t want to miss it!
Interested in more space stories like this one? Catch a show in LSC’s Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, the biggest planetarium in America. Click here to see what’s playing and get showtimes.
