Two weeks before the much-awaited solar eclipse, the Moon clips Earth's umbra to create a partial lunar eclipse visible from the Eastern Hemisphere.

When the Sun, Earth, and Moon line up in space, eclipses sometimes come in pairs. So, as everyone in North America readies for August 21'st solar eclipse (occurring at new Moon), a partial lunar eclipse sneaks in just two weeks earlier on August 7th, at the preceding full Moon.

Partial lunar eclipse in Aug 2017
August's partial lunar eclipse is a glancing event that won't be visible from the Americas.
Sky & Telescope diagram

However, North Americans find themselves out of luck for this partial cover-up of the lunar disk. The Moon's southern limb clips Earth's umbra, going about a quarter of the way in, with mid-eclipse at 18:20 Universal Time. This timing means that those in eastern Europe and Africa will see the darkening at or before sunset on the 7th, while it occurs before sunrise on the 8th for those in eastern Asia and Australia.

This glancing encounter with Earth’s core shadow, the umbra, takes nearly 2 hours from start to finish. Before and after this window, keep alert for evidence of dusky penumbral shading on the Moon's southern limb. It should become obvious within about 40 minutes of the beginning and end of the partial phases.

Visit this site for details and a world map of the eclipse's visibility.

If you aren't in the part of the world that will see this lunar eclipse, you can watch the eclipse over Rome virtually. You can also remotely view the eclipse over Hong Kong.

Comments


Image of Graham-Wolf

Graham-Wolf

August 8, 2017 at 12:31 am

Hi all!
NO LUCK.

Regret to advise, that skies were terminally OVERCAST over perhaps all of NZ this morning.
Saw nothing of the Lunar Eclipse.
Was scheduled (down here) to start at 5:22 am NZST today and max out at ~25%.

Obs site was 45.890154 South, 170.477884 East, 142.0m amsl.
Several hours spent patiently in vain......
Hope others had far better luck than me.

Regards and best wishes for the Total Solar Eclipse on the 27th!!

Graham W. Wolf at Dunedin NZ (46 South).

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