A partial lunar eclipse will grace our skies during this weekend and, while timing (and temperature) will certainly be less than ideal for Australian observers, it should provide a good spectacle for those brave ones who choose to go out.
In Melbourne, the eclipse will be cut short by the Moon setting (and the Sun rising) before it ends, but (weather permitting) one should be able to see it almost at its maximum. The umbral eclipse will start at 5:35am on Sunday (19:35 UTC on Saturday) and the maximum eclipse happens at 7:10am; infuriatingly, the Sun will rise at 7:02am and the Moon will set at 7:04am... but, if you live further west, you get to see more of it, and observers in Perth get to see the full umbral eclipse.
Still, if the weather is good and you can get a good, unobstructed view of the western horizon and you can get yourself out of bed at 5:30am on a Sunday, it will be a good show. If the weather is not that good, you can check a live webcast of the eclipse (as seen from Birmingham, UK) at the Lunar Observers website — assuming the weather there is good, of course.
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