The Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of January 10th, 2020

This first lunar eclipse of 2020 is a penumbral lunar eclipse, the January 10th, 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 penumbral eclipse of January 10th, 2020 will be a neat one as about the whole of Moon is passing inside the Earth's northern area of the penumbra, providing for a neat darkening!

The whole of the eclipse is observable in a area extending from Europe to Japan, and central and southern Africa to Indonesia, with a band of western Australia also concerned. 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 northeastern North America to southern Africa, as the second to a area running from Australia to northwesternmost North America. No eclipse is seen at all from northern North America to South America and central and eastern 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 January 10th, 2020 (data as of November 2019; EclipseWise.com site):
- umbral magnitude (fraction of Moon's diameter immersed in the penumbra at greatest): -0.1160
- greatest eclipse: 19:09:59.2 UT
- eclipse duration (penumbral): 04h04m34s
- eclipse duration (umbral): na
- 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 17:07:45 UT, P4 at 21:12:19 UT

see a .pdf map for the penumbral lunar eclipse of January 10th, 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