Lunar Eclipse: August 5-6, 2009
Published by Earth will experience its third of four lunar eclipses this year. This article explains the science behind the eclipse in an easy to understand manner.
On August 5th → August 6th this year the Earth will experience its 3rd of 4 lunar eclipses. This will be a penumbral eclipse, rather than a full lunar eclipse, the next of these occurs on December 21, 2010.
The eclipse on August 5th → 6th will be completely visible over Africa, Europe and South America. It will initially be seen rising over eastern North America and finally setting over Asia. Unfortunately the moon’s small entry into the earth’s penumbral shadow will only produce a very subtle dimming of the moon’s southern edge, which will make it difficult to observe visually.
But what is a lunar eclipse?
During a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the Sun’s light. As we normally see the moon because of the reflected light from the sun, with the earth in the way we then get a lunar eclipse. During an eclipse we see the Earth’s shadow creep across the surface of the Moon. Lunar eclipses can only occur when the Sun, Earth and Moon are lined up in that order; this means there must always be a full moon on the night of a lunar eclipse.
Lunar eclipses are not as spectacular as Solar eclipses, when day turns to night. But they do last for a longer time, and can be seen from any part of the Earth’s surface where the Moon is above the horizon. In this case the eclipse should be visible in Africa, Europe, South America, eastern North America and Asia. As lunar eclipses require no specialist equipment to view they are perfect events for the novice astronomer to observe.
Why don’t we see a lunar eclipse every month?
A full Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth. This means that lunar eclipses can only happen on the nights when there is a full Moon. It would therefore seem natural for us to assume that a lunar eclipse would happen at each full Moon. But this isn’t the case – why?
The Moon’s orbit is tilted by roughly 5 degrees to the path of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. This means that in most months the Moon will pass either above or below the Earth’s shadow so no eclipse will occur.
You might like my other science articles:
The Perseids Meteor Shower – August 2009
Viewing Venus and The International Space Station on August 17th
Earthquakes: Causes, Effects and Prediction, Including the Recent California Earthquake
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On August 6, 2009 at 2:52 am
Very interesting and easy to grasp. Thanks!
On August 6, 2009 at 9:08 am
when is it its the 6th and well i want o see it and well idk waht time it will show