September's full moon will put on quite the show on the evening of Sept. 17. Not only are we treated to a slightly larger-than-average "supermoon" but also a partial lunar eclipse.

On the evening of Sept. 17, a partial lunar eclipse will turn the moon a murky red-brown color when Earth's shadow descends upon the lunar surface.

The partial lunar eclipse will be visible from most of North America, all of South America, Europe, all but the easternmost parts of Africa, western portions of Asia and Russia, and parts of Antarctica.

The exact timing of the partial lunar eclipse depends on your location and you can use websites like Timeanddate.com to find specific timings based on your location. For those in the U.S. Eastern Time Zone, the eclipse will reach its darkest phase, with the moon most obscured by Earth's umbra, at approximately 10:44 p.m. EDT on Sept. 17. In Europe and Africa, the eclipse will occur during the early morning hours of Sept. 18. In London, the peak of the eclipse will be visible around 3:45 a.m. BST on September 18.

If you are unable to watch the lunar eclipse in person you can watch all the action unfold online here on Space.com. We have rounded up several lunar eclipse livestreams that are showing the Super Harvest Moon on Sept. 17.


https://www.space.com/lunar-ec...tm_source=SmartBrief

What causes a lunar eclipse?

lunar eclipse diagram showing show Earth casts a shadow across the lunar surface.
During a lunar eclipse the sun, Earth and moon align so that Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon and casts a shadow across the lunar surface. Whether the moon sits in the penumbra or umbra will dictate the type of lunar eclipse. During a total lunar eclipse, the umbra completely covers the lunar surface. In this diagram, the moon is located in the penumbral shadow so it is experiencing a penumbral eclipse. (Image credit: Future)
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In a partial lunar eclipse, only a portion of the moon passes into Earth's shadow, creating the appearance of a hazy "bite" taken out of the lunar surface. The shadow will darken the side of the moon facing Earth. The size of this "bite" is determined by the alignment of the sun, Earth, and moon.

About 3.5% of the moon's visible surface will be covered by the darkest part of Earth's shadow, the umbra. The rest of the Full Moon will take on a slightly reddish-brown appearance as the lighter portion of Earth's shadow which doesn't entirely block the sun's light will descend upon a majority of the lunar surface.
Super special eclipse

an illustration of moon with the top portion colored a murky red brown color.
An illustration of the moon during a partial lunar eclipse on Sept. 17, 2024. (Image credit: Starry Night Software)

The partial lunar eclipse is extra special as it also falls during a "supermoon", the second of four supermoons in a row for 2024.
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A supermoon happens when a full moon coincides with the moon's closest point to Earth in its orbit (which is elliptical-shaped). As a result, the moon appears slightly brighter and larger than usual, although the difference is subtle and hard to detect with the naked eye.

The term supermoon generally refers to a full moon within 90% of its closest approach to Earth. According to Fred Espanak, eclipse expert and retired NASA astrophysicist, there will be four supermoons in 2024, in August, September, October and November.
A lunar eclipse never comes alone

Approximately two weeks after the lunar eclipse Earth will experience an annular solar eclipse on Oct. 2. The dazzling "ring of fire" solar eclipse will be visible over parts of the Pacific Ocean, southern Chile and southern Argentina.

You can keep up with all the solar eclipse action with our solar eclipse live blog. We will also be streaming the eclipse live on Space.com, more details on how to watch online will be released closer to the time.

Excellent, perhaps it will line up with the Rocket launch from the Cape would be a great view..

Mission: A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch two European Space Agency Galileo satellites into orbit.

Launch window: 6:44-7:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 17, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows.

Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Live coverage: You can watch live rocket launch coverage from USA TODAY Network’s Space Team, which consists of FLORIDA TODAY space reporters Rick Neale and Brooke Edwards and visuals journalists Craig Bailey, Malcolm Denemark and Tim Shortt. Our Space Team will provide up-to-the-minute updates in a mobile-friendly live blog, complete with a countdown clock, at floridatoday.com/space, starting 90 minutes before liftoff.

41 - Thanks Sir for posting the link and this detail. We will be watching tonight outside and on the website. Mark

Should be quite a night tonight, astronomically speaking. Unfortunately, it's pretty cloudy in the Bay Area.

Stadium-sized asteroid deemed 'potentially hazardous' by NASA, is expected to move 'relatively close' to Earth

One of our VPs at work always lets us know about these.
I think Houston is only supposed to get about 8% totality

If you have the VelaClock app on your phone it tells you the azimuth and elevation of the Moon. At your location and current time. And much other sun and moon info too. A very nifty app.

Just a very slight flattening of the lunar disk at about the 11 o’clock position. Almost not noticeable here in Tucson.

Caught this sitting out on our patio while reading a good book and enjoying balmy 75° weather.

I want my money back

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
I want my money back

Me too! The hype was WAAAY overboard on this.

“The rest of the Full Moon will take on a slightly reddish-brown appearance as the lighter portion of Earth's shadow which doesn't entirely block the sun's light will descend upon a majority of the lunar surface.
Super special eclipse.”

Not even close!!

Clouds hid it here.

Nice clear night here. My daughter and I went out and looked at the moon about 10:30 and could see a slight flat spot around the 11:00 position caused by the earth's shadow, but other than that it was just a nice, bright full-moon. The eclipse portion wasn't particularly spectacular, but cool to see knowing what it was, and it's always worth it to go out and have a look at a nice clear night sky!

Nothing but clouds here just like for the solar eclipse

what a meh moment, clear skies, a full moon, bright, white, no eclipse or redness visible, kinda pissed I got up out of the chair, put down my cigar and walked outside for that.

Also missed the launch because of cloud cover.

Seeing was poor as usual for events such as this.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
what a meh moment, clear skies, a full moon, bright, white, no eclipse or redness visible, kinda pissed I got up out of the chair, put down my cigar and walked outside for that.

Also missed the launch because of cloud cover.

That launch was something else. At the end, they show the number of launches by year. They are at 100 launches so far this year.

Utube or my ISP is having problems today so the video may not play.



It was too cloudy to see the eclipse.

Had a good look at the partial eclipse through binoculars. I'll admit to being confused about the moon's appearance; I didn't know about the eclipse.

I have a DSLR, but have never taken the time to learn how to take pictures of the moon to show features. This is just a cellphone picture, so the moon is just a bright light, but the clouds make it kinda pretty.

Got home kinda late last night, and the moon was just coming up over the horizon. Down low like that it looked freaking huge! No eclipse that night, but it was a pretty impressive moonrise nonetheless!