On Tuesday the 16th of July there is a partial lunar eclipse.
This takes place on the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Saturn V rocket which sent the Apollo 11 astronauts to The Moon.
I will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing in Raunds on Saturday the 20th. See my Web Page for more details: www.star-gazing.co.uk/Apollo.html
For the duration of their mission I will also be posting a daily diary of what the astronauts got up to:
Catch up with their exploits by following my blog:
www.star-gazing.co.uk/Blog.html
A lunar eclipse occurs when The Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow.
Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse can be seen across a wide region of The Earth’s surface as long as The Moon is above the horizon at the time of the event.
All timings given for UT, so don’t forget to add 1 hour for BST.
The Penumbral phase starts at 18:43:53.
The umbral phase of the eclipse starts at 20:01:43.
IN the UK at this time The Moon will still be below our horizon.
It does not rise until about 21:12.
As a result we will miss the start of the eclipse.
By the time The Moon does rise, a large umbral shadow bite has already been taken out of The Moon.
This could make a great partially eclipsed Moon-rise shot if you have a low south-eastern horizon to catch The Moon as it rises.
This image shows how much of The Moon’s face will be eclipsed at Moon-rise.
Maximum eclipse occurs about 18 minutes after moonrise at 21:31:54.
There should be some red colouration visible at this time, but it is not going to look as red a total lunar eclipse as part of the lunar disk will always be reflecting strong sunlight.
The image below shows the phase at maximum eclipse.
The umbral eclipse phase ends at 22:59:39, when it leaves the much darker umbral shadow.
At this stage you may be able to see a slight darkening on the side of The Moon’s disk towards the umbral shadow, but it is very subtle.
If you take a photograph and slightly under-expose the image, it brings out the difference in brightness very easily.
The Penumbral phase of the eclipse will last until 00:17:36 when The Moon finally leaves the Earth’s penumbral shadow, and the show is all over.
Enjoy.
Dave