Observing Lunar Eclipse In 2009

Roughly two or three times a year, the Full Moon passes into the shadow of the Earth, and we have a lunar eclipse. The eclipses last for a few hours, not the whole night; and of course they can only be seen when the Moon is up, which is always at night during a Full Moon. Whether or not you can see a particular eclipse depends on whether or not it's nighttime in your part of the world when the eclipse occurs.

From 2004 through 2019, there will be 32 visible lunar eclipses. Fifteen of them will be total - the Moon will pass completely into the "umbra" of the Earth's shadow, the part where the Sun is totally blocked off by the Earth. The other eclipses can be classified as umbral, where at least part of the Moon passes into the umbra; and penumbral, where at least part of the Moon have some of the Sun's light blocked off by the Earth, but no part is in complete shadow. A person standing on the Moon during a penumbral eclipse would see the Earth block off part of the Sun, but not all of it.

THE START OF AN ECLIPSE:

The first thing to look for as the eclipse begins is a subtle darkening, a gradual dimming, at the eastern edge of the Moon, somewhere near Oceanus Procellarum. The eye won't see early parts of the eclipse, when the Moon first passes into the penumbra. It generally take about half an hour before the eastern edge of the Moon has become dark enough for you to notice. A rule of thumb is that the Moon moves at the rate of about its own diameter per hour. Thus, by the time you notice the darkening near the eastern limb,it's actually about half into the shadow and the center of Moon is just beginning to enter a partial eclipse. For this reason, eclipse that are less than 50% penumbral are not listed in our table; they simply are not worth losing much sleep over.

If the eclipse is an umbral one, then a least part of the Moon will see the Sun completely blocked by the Earth. The boundary between the umbra and penumbra, through not razor sharp, is easy to detect.

Local Date: 31 December 2009 ~ 01 January 2010

Type: 8.0% Umbral

Best Visible From: Europe, Africa, Asia


NOTICE:

For each Lunar Eclipse we list the general area on the Earth where the eclipse is best visible, and what type of Lunar Eclipse it will be. For example, on the night of 04 July 2001 ~ 05 July 2001 in Hawaii (which is 05 July 2001 ~ 06 July 2001 in Japan and Australia) 40% of the Moon passes into the Earth's deep shadow; this eclipse occurs when it is nighttime in Hawaii, Japan and China but is not visible from Europe.

"Pacific" includes Australia and New Zealand; "Americas" include both North and South America. Continents are listed west to east: the residents of the first continent listed can see the eclipse in the evening, while the eclipse will occur closer to sunrise for those in the last continent listed.