Going fast! The partial lunar eclipse of November 2021 will be very close to a total lunar eclipse. Like the moon? See its phase for every day in 2022 on EarthSky’s lunar calendar! Beautiful poster makes a great gift. Viewing details on the November 18-19 eclipse here. It is the longest partial umbral eclipse of this century. The umbral phase of the November 18-19, 2021, partial lunar eclipse is 3 hours 28 minutes and 24 seconds long. For a non-total lunar eclipse – in other words, a lunar eclipse that only has penumbral and partial phases – this is an unusually long duration.īy the way, when we speak of the duration of this eclipse, we’re including the penumbral phases preceding and following the partial umbral eclipse. The overall duration of the November 2021 eclipse – from the moment the moon enters Earth’s penumbral shadow, to the moment it leaves – will be around 21,693 seconds (about 6 hours and 2 minutes). The remaining sliver of the lunar disk will be deep within the lighter, outer part of Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra. At the maximum point of the eclipse – at 09:02 UTC – 97% of the moon’s face will be covered by the dark inner part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. Earth’s shadow will fall on the moon, resulting in the partial lunar eclipse. Why is it so long? As you might have guessed, the ordinary movements of worlds in space play a role.īetween 06:02 and 12:03 UTC ( convert UTC to your time) on November 19, the sun, Earth, and moon will come into near-perfect alignment. The next time Earth will see a partial lunar eclipse as lengthy as this month’s will be on February 8, 2669. The last partial lunar eclipse that stretched longer happened on February 18, 1440. The November 19, 2021, partial lunar eclipse – which is best overnight on November 18 for North America – will be the longest such event within a stretch of 1,000 years. Partial lunar eclipse with near-perfect alignment Looking for eclipse times and other info? Try this article by eclipse guru Fred Espenak. originally printed this article, which is by Graham Jones.
The last time a partial lunar eclipse lasted that long was in the year 1440, when the Incas were building Machu Picchu. The November 18-19, 2021, partial lunar eclipse will last for more than 6 hours.