Astronomy Down Under

Lunar eclipse

15 Feb at 15:49 by Wilson

For information on the 28 August 2007 eclipse, go here.

There’s a total lunar eclipse coming up next month; it will start at 23:20 UTC on 03 March (04 March 10:20 Melbourne daylight savings time) and will last for six hours, from first contact until the Moon leaves the penumbra.

It won’t be visible from Melbourne, though, as the Moon will be below the horizon at the time. Viewers in Adelaide should be able to see the Moon start to get a bit reddish as it goes into the penumbra just before it sets (it may be hard to see, though), while observers in Perth will see it set just before it gets completely obscured by the Earth’s shadow. Anyone east of the South Australia - Victoria border won’t see anything — that includes the whole of Victoria and Tasmania, most of New South Wales and Queensland and the whole of New Zealand.

But don’t despair. On 28 August a new total eclipse will be visible exactly to the area of the world that misses out on the first one. It will start at 07:51 UTC (17:51 Melbourne time), and eastern Australia will see the whole eclipse starting just after the Moon rises (western Australia catches the eclipse in progress at Moon rise).

We’ll miss out on a third eclipse in February of next year, though. The next total lunar eclipse we’ll be able to see from Australia, and then only in part, will be in December of 2010. For a fully visible total eclipse, Australians who miss out in August will have to wait until 11 December 2011.

For more details, check the visibility charts at the NASA Lunar Eclipse Home Page: for the March eclipse, and for the August eclipse.