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The Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of March 23rd, 2016

This first lunar eclipse of the year, and the second major astronomical event in 2016, is a penumbral lunar eclipse, the March 23rd, 2016 penumbral lunar eclipse. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon is gliding inside the 'penumbra' of the Earth only, instead of the darker 'umbra.' for more about Moon eclipses, theoretically, see our tutorial: Moon Eclipses. A penumbral Moon eclipse, generally, is less spectacular than a total or partial one, as the dimming of the Moon may be harder to observe. It's a good show, worth the observation however. This penumbral lunar eclipse is having the northernmost areas of the Moon to stay out from the Earth's penumbra as the dimming of our satellite, under the form of a dusky shading, will thus be less for those regions

The whole of the eclipse is observable in a area extending from Japan and far eastern Russia and mid-Australia to Alaska, northwestern North America and the western shores of it -Baja California excluded- as South America is missing the full show. Either side of it, observers will either have the eclipse already encours by moonrise or the eclipse interrupted by moonset. Central Siberia, China, India or western Australia rank into the first case as most of Americas, eastern part of Brazil excepted into the second! Areas from Greenland and eastern Brazil to western Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and eastern Africa have no eclipse at all

The eclipse's main data are the following (data as of Dec. 26, 2015, F. Espenak, NASA's GSFC). for more about how to observe a lunar eclipse, see our tutorial 'Observing a Moon Eclipse':
- umbral magnitude (fraction of Moon's diameter immersed in the penumbra at greatest):-0.3118
- greatest eclipse: 11:47:11.8 UT
- eclipse duration (penumbral): 04h 15m 22s
- eclipse duration (umbral): -
- eclipse contacts (in UT): P1 (penumbral eclipse begins) at 09:39:29, P4 (penumbral eclipse ends) at 13:54:50. No U2 nor U3, neither U1 nor U4 which occur during a total lunar eclipse, or a partial lunar eclipse, respectively only

see a .PDF map for the March 23rd, 2016 penumbral lunar eclipse (path of the Moon within the Earth's umbra and map of the visibility of the eclipse worldwide). map courtesy Fred Espenak - NASA's GSFC

. for more about this eclipse and for more about solar and lunar eclipses generally, you may see at NASA Eclipse Web Site or at Eclipse Wise, Espenak's new personal website