LUNAR
ECLIPSES - GEOGRAPHY
News:
What time is the partial
lunar eclipse of the full moon this weekend?
What's
in the news?
●
Solar and lunar eclipses always come in
pairs. Earlier this month, an annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse appeared in
the skies above much of the US, and now it is the moon’s turn.
Lunar
Eclipse:
●
Lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon
moves into the Earth’s shadow.
●
The Earth has to be directly between the
Sun and the Moon and a lunar eclipse can only take place during a full Moon.
●
A lunar eclipse usually lasts for a few
hours. At least two partial lunar eclipses happen every year, but total lunar
eclipses are rare.
Kinds
of Lunar Eclipses:
Total
lunar eclipse:
●
When the Moon moves into the inner part of the Earth’s shadow or the umbra,
it results in a total solar eclipse.
●
Usually, a total lunar eclipse is when the
Moon appears to turn a shade of red.
●
As mentioned earlier, this is because of
light passing through our planet, reaching the Moon and Rayleigh scattering.
Partial
lunar eclipse:
●
When the Sun, Earth and Moon align
imperfectly and only a portion of the
Moon passes through the Earth’s umbra, you get a partial lunar eclipse.
●
During a partial eclipse of the Moon, the
dark shadow of the Earth will slowly grow on the Moon, before it starts
receding.
●
The dark shadow will not completely cover
the Moon during a partial lunar eclipse.
Penumbral
lunar eclipse:
●
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the
Sun, Earth, and the Moon are imperfectly aligned.
●
When this happens, the Earth blocks some
of the Sun’s light from directly reaching the Moon’s surface and covers all or
part of the Moon with the outer part of its shadow, also known as the penumbra.
●
Since the penumbra is much fainter than
the dark core of the Earth’s shadow, the umbra, a penumbral eclipse of the Moon
is often difficult to tell apart from a normal Full Moon.