Overview
- The partial lunar eclipse, which occurs Thursday night into early Friday, begins with a subtle penumbral contact around 9:23 p.m. EDT and reaches its maximum near 12:12 a.m. EDT when the deepest umbral coverage occurs.
- Agencies report the event as a very deep partial eclipse with about 93 percent of the Moon’s diameter inside Earth’s umbra at peak and roughly 96 percent of the lunar disk in shadow.
- Roughly 3.3 billion people on the night side — including much of North and South America, western Europe and western Africa — will be able to see at least part of the eclipse, with local moonrise, moonset and clouds determining what is visible.
- Observers do not need eye protection to watch the eclipse and will get a stronger view with binoculars or a small telescope; many observatories and public viewing events are scheduling programs but all are weather-dependent.
- The red or coppery hue comes from sunlight refracted through Earth’s atmosphere (Rayleigh scattering), and this lunar event follows the Aug. 12 solar eclipse as part of the same eclipse cycle that often pairs solar and lunar events about two weeks apart.