Tonight: Partial lunar eclipse is longest in centuries
The eclipse will last just over six hours from start to finish. That’s longer than any other partial lunar eclipse in the past five hundred years, and the record won’t be broken until the 27th century.
Look for the moon high in the western sky. For observers in Northern Arizona, the penumbra (or faintest part of Earth’s shadow) will begin to veil the moon at 11 pm. The show truly begins just after midnight, when the first bite disappears. At maximum eclipse, around 2am, ninety-seven percent of the moon will turn blood-red and only a sliver will remain in sunlight. The shadow will slide away over the next three hours.
The moon will pass through Earth’s shadow more slowly than usual because it’s currently at its farthest point from Earth in its orbit, known as a ‘micromoon.’
Skywatchers might also spot a few shooting stars from the ongoing Leonid meteor shower.
Lowell Observatory will livestream the eclipse starting at 12:15am. Link here: http://lowell.edu/2021-lunar-eclipse
