- - text and links as of last publication - -

October 18th, 2013 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

This third lunar eclipse of the year, and the last lunar eclipse in 2013 is a penumbral lunar eclipse again, the October 18th, 2013 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 northern quarter 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 have to be watched for the central and southern regions

The whole of the eclipse is observable in a area extending from northeastern North America to the Middle East with the whole of Europe and of Africa, and the eastern halve of South America also included. From northwestern Canada to southern South America, with most of the U.S.A. included, observers will be having the eclipse already encours by moonrise as in Siberia, China, India and a part of southeastern Asia, observers will see the eclipse interrupted by moonset. Easternmost Siberia, Alaska, most of the Pacific Ocean area, Japan, Australia and New Zealand do not have anay eclipse at all

The eclipse's main data are the following (data as of October 2012, 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): 0.7649
- greatest eclipse: 23:50:17 UT
- eclipse duration (penumbral): 03h59m11s
- eclipse duration (umbral): -
- eclipse contacts (in UT): P1 (penumbral eclipse begins) at 21:50:38, P4 (penumbral eclipse ends) at 01:49:49. 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 October 18th, 2013 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 Fred Espenak's NASA's eclipse website