![]() The 97% eclipse clocked in at 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 24 seconds, making it the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years. A nearly total eclipse of November’s full “Beaver Moon” captured over the city of New Orleans before dawn on Nov. The degree of redness of a fully eclipsed Moon can be influenced by atmospheric conditions resulting from volcanic eruptions, fires, and dust storms. Some of that red light is refracted, or bent, as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere and ends up shining on the Moon with a ghostly red light. Light from the Sun collides into the gases of Earth’s atmosphere and because of its shorter wavelength, blue light is filtered out, but red light is not easily scattered because of its longer wavelength. Rayleigh scattering is also the reason for red sunrises and sunsets. The scattering is a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering – named after the 19th-century British Physicist Lord Rayleigh. The red color occurs because of the refraction, filtering, and scattering of light by Earth’s atmosphere. Those in the eastern part of the United States will miss most or all of the last partial phase because the Moon will set during totality or shortly after totality ends.Īnother feature of a total lunar eclipse is the Moon’s red hue during totality. Then, the partial phase will resume, lasting until 6:49 a.m. CST, with totality beginning at 4:16 a.m. The partial eclipse will begin at 3:09 a.m. Lunar eclipses are only possible when the orbits align so that the Moon is directly behind Earth relative to the Sun.įor North America the action will start in the early hours of the morning on Nov. The reason is because the Moon’s orbit around Earth is tilted relative to Earth’s orbit around the Sun, so the Moon often passes above or below Earth’s shadow. Many people wonder why lunar eclipses don’t happen every month given the Moon completes an orbit around Earth every 27 days. Earth’s shadow is categorized into two parts: the umbra, the innermost part of the shadow where direct light from the Sun is completely blocked, and the penumbra, the outermost part of the shadow where the light is partially blocked.ĭuring a total lunar eclipse, the Moon and the Sun are on opposite sides of Earth. The Flower Moon lunar eclipse over NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is shown from the initial partial eclipse to totality in a composite of seven images shot on Sunday, May 15, 2022.Ī total lunar eclipse occurs when Earth casts a complete shadow – called an umbra – over the Moon. While the Moon has been providing generous eclipse viewing opportunities this year, viewers should take advantage of November’s eclipse because the next total lunar eclipse will not occur until 2025. The previous total lunar eclipse happened in May.Īccording to Alphonse Sterling, astrophysicist from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, total lunar eclipses occur approximately once every 1.5 years on average. At least a portion of the phenomenon will be visible throughout eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and North America. For the second time in 2022, stargazers will have the opportunity to view a total lunar eclipse on Nov.
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