Longest
Lunar Eclipse in 11 Years
Will Occur on June 15
Image / Sky & Telescope, Leah Tiscione
A total lunar eclipse will occur
on June 15 and will be visible from the eastern half of
Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and western
Australia, but not North America. The entire event will
be visible from Israel, with the first phase of the
eclipse occuring at 9:23 PM IDT, and the phase of
totality beginning at 10:23 PM IDT.
The celestial event will take place over a period of
about four hours, including a period of 100 minutes
where the moon will be completely eclipsed by the earth.
This will be the longest duration total lunar eclipse to
occur since 2000, and another of this duration will not
occur until 2018.
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Can
you spot June's total eclipse of the Moon?
This event favors those in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
By Michael E. Bakich Published: June 6, 2011
The December 21, 2010, lunar eclipse dazzled viewers
across North America. This image is a two-exposure
combination taken in Mead, Colorado, by attaching a
digital camera to a 4-inch telescope.
Photo by Richard McCoy
The first lunar eclipse of 2011 occurs June 15. The
timing and the placement of the Moon in its orbit does
not favor the Western Hemisphere, however.
Skywatchers can see the entire event from the eastern
half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and
western Australia. At mid-eclipse, the Moon will lie
near the zenith for observers situated in
Réunion or Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
Observers throughout Europe will miss the early stages
of the eclipse because they occur before moonrise. But
except for northern Scotland and northern Scandinavia,
Europeans with clear skies will see totality (when the
Moon lies completely within Earth's umbra).
Likewise, eastern Asia, eastern Australia, and New
Zealand will miss the last stages of eclipse because
they occur after moonset, but, like those in Europe,
most inhabitants will see the total phase. Observers in
eastern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina also will witness
totality. Unfortunately, none of the eclipse will be
visible from North America.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon in its orbit passes
into Earth's shadow. Because the Sun isn't a point of
light, the shadow has two parts the inner, darker umbra
and the outer, lighter penumbra. If the entire Moon
enters the umbra, the eclipse is total. If the umbra
hides only part of our satellite, the eclipse is
partial.
This eclipse's umbral phase begins at 18h22m56s UT
(2:22:56 p.m. EDT). As the Moon dips deeper into our
planet's shadow during the next hour or so, darkness
gradually overtakes the brilliant orb.
Earth's shadow takes almost exactly 1 hour to envelop
the Moon. Totality begins at 19h22m30s UT (3:22:30 p.m.
EDT).
The Moon won't disappear from view, however. Some
sunlight passing through Earth's atmosphere falls on the
lunar surface. The cleaner our atmosphere is, the
lighter the eclipse will be. Dark eclipses generally
occur after large volcanic eruptions when the atmosphere
contains more dust.
What color will the Moon turn at mideclipse? During
previous total eclipses, the Moon has appeared brown,
orange, crimson, and brick red. Lunar eclipses exhibit a
range of shades because sunlight passing through Earth's
atmosphere during totality becomes scattered and
reddened. It's this dim glow that fills Earth's shadow
and lights the eclipsed Moon. The sky certainly will
grow darker, allowing the bright summer stars
surrounding our nearest celestial neighbor to spring
back to prominence.
Totality lasts 100 minutes, which is rather long. The
last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000.
During totality, the Moon's southern edge may appear
slightly darker than its northern side. This disparity
occurs because the Moon's southern limb lies a bit
closer to the center of Earth's shadow. After totality
ends at 21h02m42s UT (5:02:42 p.m. EDT), it takes the
Moon another 60 minutes to leave Earth's umbra.
Astronomy magazine Contributing Editor Ray Shubinski
describes the upcoming eclipse as a missed opportunity:
It's too bad that nobody in North America will see the
eclipse. Luckily, we don't have all that long to wait
until the next one.
The eclipse to which Shubinski refers will occur
December 10. But it won't be perfect, either. For North
Americans, that eclipse will still be in progress as the
Moon sets. The farther west you live, however, the
larger fraction of the eclipse you will see before
moonset. The entire event will be visible for
inhabitants of Asia and Australia under clear skies.