The Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of July 5th, 2020

That third lunar eclipse of the year is a penumbral lunar eclipse, the July 5th, 2020 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. That one eclipse will be the least affected that year, by Moon's transit -- into the southern area of the Earth's penumbra -- as about a third only of the lunar disk will be affected. Moon's dimming will have to be searched in the northern regions of the Moon

The whole of the eclipse is observable in a area extending from a large part of North America to the westernmost parts of Africa. Like usual either side on that area, a one will have the eclipse already en cours at moonrise and a other, the eclipse interrupted by moonset. The first case applies to a area running from the northwesternmost part of the U.S.A and about half of Canada down to New Zealand via the central Pacific ocean, as the second to a area running from western Europe to South Africa. No eclipse is seen at all from eastern Europe to Australia, via all of Asia and to the western Pacific ocean. for more about how to observe a lunar eclipse, see our tutorial 'Observing a Moon Eclipse'

Main Data for the penumbral lunar eclipse of July 5th, 2020 (data as of November 2019; EclipseWise.com site):
- umbral magnitude (fraction of Moon's diameter immersed in the penumbra at greatest): -0.6436
- greatest eclipse: 04:30:00.1 UT
- eclipse duration (penumbral): 02h45m00s
- eclipse duration (umbral): -
- eclipse contacts (P1, time of first exterior tangency of Moon with penumbra, beginning of penumbral eclipse; P4, time of last exterior tangency of Moon with penumbra, end of penumbral eclipse; no U1, U4 (which exist for a partial eclipse only) nor U2, U3 (for a total eclipse only); in UT): P1 at 03:07:23 UT, P4 at 05:52:23 UT

see a .pdf map for the penumbral lunar eclipse of July 5th, 2020 (Moon's path into Earth's penumbra and eclipse's visibility worldwide). map courtesy EclipseWise.com

. 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