Partial lunar eclipse tonight

NOW: Partial lunar eclipse tonight

Early tomorrow morning the partial lunar eclipse will take place. This eclipse will begin to enter the penumbra, or earth's lighter shadow, at 2:18am. It will then move into the earth's dark inner shadow, the umbra, at 4:02. This is when the moon will be at its most picturesque stage. It will have a ruddy brown or darker red tint to it. Finally, around 5:47am the moon will begin to move back out of the outer shadow, thus ending the eclipse. In total, from the time the first portion of the moon moves into earths outer shadow, till the last portion leaves the outer shadow, you will have 6 hours and 2 minutes to view it. The lunar eclipse will be in the umbra, for a total of 3 hours 28 minutes.

If you have plans to get up during the middle of the night to view this once in a lifetime partial lunar eclipse, then you may want to factor in some drive time depending where you are. Lake effect cloud cover will develop tonight, making visibility limited in a few areas, while others will catch a few breaks from the cloud cover. The best viewing overall will be west of LaPorte and Starke county, or south of Highway 30.

If you miss this one, when will there be another chance for a similar sighting? Not until February 8th 2669. If you are 20-30 years old, your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandchildren will be able to see it. The last time a partial lunar eclipse of this magnitude took place was February 18th 1440. 

The link below also has some great information if you want to learn more about tonight's partial lunar eclipse

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/partial-lunar-eclipse-november-19-2021/

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