Lunar Eclipse 2021 (Chandra Grahan 2021): In the early hours of Friday, November 19, 2021 a lunar eclipse will come to North America as well as to South America, Australia and East Asia.
Sure, the nearly full Moon will turn a reddish, orange-ish, brownish color for a few hours, but this lunar eclipse is going to be rather odd.
In India, a small part of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam will experience the partial eclipse, and those from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand can see the end part of the penumbral eclipse. A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon, Sun, and Earth are imperfectly aligned and the Moon moves through the outer part of Earth’s shadow called the penumbra.
- It’s not actually a full ‘Blood Moon’ eclipse
Full Moons occasionally turn reddish because they move into Earth’s vast shadow (umbra) in space. This one will not. Or, at least, not entirely. At its peak precisely 97.4% of our satellites will enter Earth’s shadow. There will remain a slither of reflected sunlight. So it’s a partial, not total, lunar eclipse, though it’s so close that it will still be a spectacular event.
- Everyone in North America will see it
North America is perfectly placed to see this global event, which will happen at exactly the same time for everyone on the night-side of Earth. However, the local time it will happen where you are depends on where you live. So get the exact celestial schedule for your location and consult an interactive map of the event.
In Europe it will be possible to glimpse some of the preceding partial phases close to the moonset.
- Don’t miss the ‘max red’ moment
The Moon will be in as full “near-total eclipse” as it gets and as red as possible at 09:02 UTC. That translates to:
- 04:02 a.m.EST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 03:02 a.m. CST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 02:02 a.m. MST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 01:02 a.m. PST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 00:02 a.m. AKST (Alaska) on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 11:02 p.m. HST (Hawaii) on Thursday, November 18, 2021
- Get up earlier to sea ‘Half Blood Moon’
Although seeing the Moon at “max. red” is one option, for me at least as interesting a sight as the almost straight, but slightly curved line moving across the Moon to envelope it in color. That’s the edge of Earth’s massive shadow! You’ll only see that if you watch the waxing partial eclipse phase before the “near-totality.” Here’s when to see our planet’s mighty shadow move across the Moon:
- 02:18-04:02 a.m. EST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 01:18-03:02 a.m. CST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 00:18-02:02 a.m. MST on Friday, November 19, 2021
- 23:18 p.m. PST on Thursday, November 18, 2021 to 01:02 a.m. on Friday, November 19. 2021
- 00:02 a.m. AKST (Alaska) on Thursday, November 18, 2021
- 11:02 p.m. HST (Hawaii) on Thursday, November 18, 2021
To see Earth’s shadow recede across the Moon and drain it of color, simply keep on watching past the point of near-totality.
- It’s the longest partial lunar eclipse this century
The partial lunar eclipse will last three hours 28 minutes and 23 seconds making it the longest partial lunar eclipse between 2001 and 2100 according to NASA. It’s also the longest partial lunar eclipse for 580 years. However, that’s not a hugely useful definition because at a total lunar eclipse—which this is not—you get an additional period of up to a few hours when the full Moon can reside within the Earth’s shadow, 100% eclipsed and reddish.
But why is this such a long partial eclipse? That’s because it’s a very deep eclipse. Well, shortly after this eclipse just under 2 days later the Moon reaches the apogee of its slightly elliptical orbital path around the Earth. So it will appear relatively small in the night sky, something that explains why it goes so deeply into and spends so long inside Earth’s shadow.
- The southern limb of the Moon won’t turn red
The 2.6% of the Moon that won’t enter Earth’s shadow is on the southern limb of the Moon, so while most of the lunar disk will turn red, this slice will not.
- There’s a bonus for astrophotographers
As a nice bonus, the eclipse will peak while the Moon is close to the Pleiades, one of the the closest, brightest and most impressive open star clusters to our Solar System. If you’re an astrophotographer, this is the shot you want! There’s a helpful video from NASA that visualizes the entire thing.
So when is the next eclipse? Eclipses always arrive in twins and occasionally triplets. This partial lunar eclipse will be followed on the next New Moon Saturday, December 4, 2021 with that most dramatic kind of eclipse of all, a total solar eclipse, in Antarctica!
