![]() ![]() There are usually two or three lunar eclipses in a given year, and everyone lucky enough to be on the night side of Earth during a lunar eclipse has a chance to witness it. When the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned at a node, voila! The moon falls into the path of the Earth’s shadow. Joss Fong/Voxįor a total eclipse to occur, the moon needs to be at or very close to one of the nodes. There are two points in the moon’s orbit where the shadow can fall on the Earth. This means during most full moons, the shadow misses the moon, as you can see in the diagram above. No one is completely sure why - but it might have to do with how the moon was likely formed: from a massive object smashing into Earth. The moon’s orbit isn’t perfectly matched up with Earth’s. Now, you might be thinking: “Why don’t we have lunar eclipses every full moon?” When the moon is full, it means the sun, Earth, and moon are in alignment, like so: The simple answer is “because the moon sometimes passes through the shadow of Earth.” But there’s more to it than that.įor one, it has to be a full moon. July 27 is also the best day to view the planet Mars, as it will be directly in line with Earth and the sun. Watch it right here.įor more outdoor sky-gazing opportunities this summer, check out our guide. The astronomy education website Slooh will live-stream coverage of the eclipse starting at 1 pm Eastern on July 27. You don’t have to do much without leaving your couch - eclipse viewing included. If I can’t see it, can I at least live-stream it? ![]() The full eclipse begins at 19:30 UTC and then lasts a full hour and 43 minutes! (Check out precisely when the eclipse will occur where you live on .)Įnjoy! And tell us how it went! Tweet pictures to We won’t be totally jealous or anything. That’s when the partial phase of the eclipse starts. NASAįor readers in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America, all you have to do is go outside at 17:14 Universal time (1:14 pm ET) and look for the moon. We’ll have to wait until January 21, 2019, when the next full lunar eclipse will be viewable here. The moon will have finished traversing Earth’s shadow, or umbra. Sadly, by the time night falls in North America and the full moon rises here, the eclipse will already have ended. Here’s the less good news: Those of us in North America (save for a slice of Newfoundland, Canada) will not see it at all. Here’s the good news: The vast majority of people on planet Earth will be able to see this lunar eclipse. It will be the longest “blood moon” lunar eclipse of the century, lasting 26 minutes longer than the last total lunar eclipse, in January. For 103 minutes, the usually silvery moon will turn blood red and ochre. On Friday, July 27, the full moon will pass through the shadow of the Earth. ![]()
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