Full Worm Moon brings 1st lunar eclipse of 2024 tonight.

[LazyHippo]

An illustration of the moon on March 25 depicting a penumbral lunar eclipse. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
 

During the next two weeks, there will be two eclipses on the astronomical docket. The main event, of course, will be the Great North American Eclipse on April 8 that will stretch from the Pacific coast of Mexico, on to Texas and across southern and eastern portions of the United States and Atlantic Canada, before coming to an end over the north Atlantic Ocean.

 

But two weeks before the total solar eclipse, during the overnight hours of March 24-25, it will be the moon's turn to undergo an eclipse; a prelude to grand event coming our way in early April. That final full moon before the total solar eclipse, March's Worm Moon, will quietly slip into Earth's outer shadow, known as the penumbra.

 

The continents of North and South America are in the best position to see this lunar eclipse, as it occurs high in their sky while the night of March 24 transitions to March 25. The moon will take 4 hours and 40 minutes to glide across the pale outer fringe (penumbra) of Earth's shadow, never reaching the shadow's dark umbra.
 

Both the lunar and solar eclipses are, of course, related. A solar eclipse can occur only when the moon is at a node of its orbit. (The nodes are the two points where the moon's path on the sky crosses the sun's path, called the ecliptic). During the solar eclipse on April 8, the moon will cross the ecliptic from south to north. But a half orbit earlier, on March 24-25, the moon will cross the opposite node from north to south, encountering the Earth's shadow. The timeframe when this geometry can allow for eclipses to occur is called an "eclipse season" and in this case runs from March 16 through April 23. All this is a fine example of how an eclipse season works. 
 

In this particular case the moon is going to pass very deep into the penumbra. In fact, at the moment of the deepest phase/greatest eclipse (7:12 UT) the penumbra will reach to an extent of 95.8 percent across the lunar disk. Put another way, the lowermost limb of the moon will be 282 miles (453 km) away from the unseen edge of the Earth's umbra.

 

However, penumbral eclipses are rather subtle events which are usually difficult to detect; the shadow is pale. In fact, first contact with the penumbral shadow is all but impossible to detect. But a little over an hour later, those with exceptionally acute perception might be able to detect an ever-so-slight shading of the moon's lower left limb.

[RedBaird]

For West Coast USA   (We have a clear sky at my location! 😮 )

 

Begins:          Sun, Mar 24, 2024 at 9:53 pm
Maximum:    Mon, Mar 25, 2024 at 12:12 am -0.133 Magnitude
Ends:            Mon, Mar 25, 2024 at 2:32 am

 

This site is for my location and shows 21 minutes to go for me.    Eclipses visible in West Coast, USA – Mar 25, 2024 Lunar Eclipse (timeanddate.com)

 

You can enter your city into the search-bar on the upper right of this page : Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on March 24–25, 2024 – Where and When to See (timeanddate.com)
 

[RedBaird]

The Lunar Eclipse is happening NOW,  in Western Europe, Western Africa,  all of the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Pacific (Australia, NZ and Islands to the north).

 

 

Edited March 25 by RedBaird
+ Lunar

[RedBaird]

3 hours ago, RedBaird said:

12:12 am

 

A5 12:20 am (0020) my time, I did not really see any distinct shadow of the Earth on the Moon's surface, but the light of the Full Moon falling on the ground here was very, very dim.   

 

I might have seen an area of slight shadow on the east side of the Moon, but I didn't have any binoculars to see it clearly.   The rest of the Moon seemed pretty bright! 

 

 

[LazyHippo]

15 hours ago, RedBaird said:

 

A5 12:20 am (0020) my time, I did not really see any distinct shadow of the Earth on the Moon's surface, but the light of the Full Moon falling on the ground here was very, very dim.   

 

I might have seen an area of slight shadow on the east side of the Moon, but I didn't have any binoculars to see it clearly.   The rest of the Moon seemed pretty bright! 

 

 

 

Mine was too late, or too early, 2am 😴

 

One coworker that went to 'Ana Gabriel' outdoor concert that the moon had its south part a little foggy but not nothing else.

 

Im starting to think penumbral eclipses are not too easy to watch and they make you get excited for nothing 😄