A good six hours
On Friday there is the longest lunar eclipse in almost 600 years
This lunar eclipse could be seen from California, among other places, in May. It didn’t last as long as the partial lunar eclipse that Friday.
© Ringo HW Chiu // Picture Alliance
The moon disappears almost completely in the shadow of the earth this Friday. It is the longest partial lunar eclipse since the late Middle Ages. However, it cannot be seen everywhere.
The last time people were able to marvel at such a natural spectacle, Columbus had not yet discovered America, Luther had not yet nailed 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, and London had just over 50,000 inhabitants.
On this Friday, the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years will be visible from Earth. The satellite will be almost completely covered – or 97.4 percent to be exact. The sky spectacle begins on the morning of November 19th of our time.
The partial lunar eclipse can hardly be seen from Germany
In Germany and Europe, however, viewers have bad cards to marvel at the natural event live outside. This comes from a timeline of the US space agency Nasa, which provides detailed information about the astronomical drama. Because when it starts, from our point of view the moon will have sunk below the horizon again.
The partial lunar eclipse is therefore easier to see in parts of the American continent, in the East Pacific region or in the Arctic.
A shame for German and European amateur astronomers. Because optically, such a partial lunar eclipse is a pleasure: the moon then no longer shines brightly, but only shimmers reddish or red-brown when the umbra of the earth falls over its satellite. This is because the sunlight that illuminates the moon is filtered by the earth’s atmosphere.
This partial lunar eclipse lasts more than six hours
Researchers have calculated the duration of this partial lunar eclipse to be a total of six hours and three minutes. Almost three and a half hours of that – exactly three hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds – the moon will remain in the middle of the umbra of the earth. The long duration of the darkening can be explained by the great distance of the moon on its way around the earth, scientists write.
According to the reports on the upcoming celestial event, one has to go back to the late Middle Ages to find something similar: The Austrian “standard” calculates that a comparable darkening of the moon lasted longer in 1440.
And until the next time, mankind also needs patience: That will be in the year 2669, astronomers calculate.
Source: NASA, “The standard“
See in the video what a lunar eclipse is all about. An animation from NASA shows how this cosmic spectacle comes about – and why the moon will turn red.