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The Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of September 16th, 2016

This last lunar eclipse of the year, and the last major astronomical event in 2016, is a penumbral lunar eclipse, the September 16th, 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 southernmost parts 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 be less for those regions. That is however a very deep penumbral eclipse, generally

The whole of the eclipse is observable in a area extending from eastern Europe, mid-Africa and southern Africa to the limits of Russian Far-East, Koreas and mid-Australia. Either side of it, observers will either have the eclipse already encours by moonrise or the eclipse interrupted by moonset. Most of Europe, Iceland, Western Africa, and easternmost Brazil rank in the first case as areas from most of Japan to eastern Australia and those encompassing the western Pacific into the second! Eastern Pacific and Americas -easternmost Brazil excepted- 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): -0.0635
- greatest eclipse: 18:54:16.8 UT
- eclipse duration (penumbral): 03h 59m 16s
- eclipse duration (umbral): -
- eclipse contacts (in UT): P1 (penumbral eclipse begins) at 16:54:40, P4 (penumbral eclipse ends) at 20:53:57. 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 September 16th, 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