Partial Lunar Eclipse on 17/18 September

A modest partial lunar eclipse will take place overnight on 17/18 September.

Although slight, the eclipse should still be visible, with the Moon’s north-western edge briefly passing into Earth’s dark central umbral shadow.

At maximum, the eclipse is a little over 8% partial, so the Full Moon will appear slightly ‘squashed’ along one side at mid-eclipse.

Timing and visibility

The full eclipse can be seen across the Atlantic Ocean region, encompassing western Africa and Europe, eastern North America, and all of South America.

In eastern Europe and Africa, the eclipse will already be in progress as the Moon sets near sunrise. In western North America, it will be under way when the Moon rises around sunset.

The umbral, or partial, stage lasts just under 63 minutes and reaches its midpoint at 02:45 Universal Time (UT) on 18 September, or 22:45 U.S. East Coast Time (EDT) on the night of Tuesday, 17 September.

The complete penumbral phase begins at 00:41 UT/20:41 EDT and continues for roughly 4 hours and six minutes.

A complicated celestial affair

The eclipse is part of a busy sequence of celestial events. A little more than 15 hours beforehand, the Moon occults - passes in front of - Saturn for observers in western North America.

Just 10 hours after the eclipse, the Moon reaches perigee, its nearest point to Earth. That will probably prompt claims of a ' Supermoon eclipse' around ye 'ole web. Ignore any supposed ' Blood Moon' excitement: the Moon will not penetrate far enough into Earth’s umbral shadow to take on a red colour.

A little more than five hours after the eclipse, the Moon also occults Neptune for North America, making for a genuinely difficult observation.

The September Full Moon nearest the Equinox - falling on Sunday, 22 September, in 2024 - is called the Harvest Moon.

As well as giving pre-industrial farmers several extra hours of moonlight for bringing in the harvest, September’s shallow ecliptic angle makes the Moon appear to linger from one evening to the next, rising only a little later each night.

I recall picking potatoes in northern Maine during September while growing up, then walking home beneath the Harvest Moon’s light.

Watching this week’s partial lunar eclipse

Viewing or photographing the eclipse is straightforward: simply follow the Full Moon on Tuesday night at the stated time. A modern phone with its zoom engaged can capture a clear picture, as can a phone camera pointed through a telescope eyepiece.

You are unlikely to spot anything unusual until around 30 minutes into the penumbral phase. At that point, the Moon may begin to show a faint tea-coloured hue.

As the partial phase approaches, Earth’s uneven umbral shadow will barely graze the Moon. The curved outline of Earth’s shadow will be visible, offering visual evidence that our planet is round.

Cloud-cover forecasts for the contiguous United States appear most favourable for the central and southern U.S. at eclipse time:

Clouded out, or based in the wrong hemisphere? The eclipse can still be watched live through astronomer Gianluca Masi and the Virtual Telescope Project.

The partial lunar eclipse… as seen from space

The display reaches into space, too. Nearly all of the Moon’s Earth-facing side will undergo a partial solar eclipse, while the far north-western limb will experience a total solar eclipse. One day, perhaps human astronauts will stand on the Moon to observe such an event.

Tales of the Saros

Lunar and solar eclipses belong to groups called saroses, whose members are separated by 18.04 years, or 223 synodic months. At any one time, several saroses are active.

This event is member 52 of 74 in lunar saros series 118, indicating that the cycle is past its peak and nearing its end. Lunar saros 118 started waaaaay back on 2 March, 1105. Its first total lunar eclipse occurred on 22 August, 1393, while its final one took place on 22 June, 1880.

Anyone who saw the partial lunar eclipse of 7 September, 2006, centred over the Indian Ocean region, witnessed the previous member of this saros cycle. The last member of the saros series - an almost imperceptible penumbral eclipse - arrives on… (mark your calendars) 7 May, 2403.

This begins 2024’s final eclipse season. It is book-ended by an annular solar eclipse in two weeks’ time, on 2 October. That event crosses Easter Island in the South Pacific and the southernmost tip of South America.

The following lunar eclipse will be a total lunar eclipse on 13–14 March 2025, favouring the Americas. It will end the ongoing 'lunar eclipse drought,' the previous eclipse having occurred on 8 November, 2022.

Provided skies are clear, make sure to look up on Tuesday night for this final lunar eclipse of 2024.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.