Tonight, Australians have the chance to witness one of the year’s celestial spectacles: a penumbral lunar eclipse. During this event, the moon will align closely with the sun and Earth, resulting in the Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra, partially covering the lunar surface. Dr. Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, describes it as a gradual darkening across the moon’s face, rather than a dramatic transformation.
“If you’re observing closely, you may detect subtle fluctuations in brightness during the eclipse.” However, the penumbral eclipse will exclusively be observable from regions situated on the nighttime hemisphere of Earth during the event, spanning Europe, North and East Asia, Australia, Africa, North America, and South America. In Sydney, the eclipse will reach its peak at 7:03 PM tonight, while in Melbourne, it will peak at 7:29 PM.
While a penumbral eclipse is not as dramatic as a total lunar eclipse with the moon appearing an eerie red, there is no special equipment required to view a lunar eclipse such as the viewing glasses needed for a solar eclipse, Schmoll said, allowing for lunar eclipses to be viewed with the naked eye.
