Millions in US state set to witness near-total lunar eclipse this week
Millions of people are set to experience a near total eclipse in California this week with a blood moon visible on Thursday (August 27).
NASA shared information about the event, detailing how the moon passing into the shadow of the Earth will create a ‘deep partial eclipse’.
The space agency continued: “At the moment of greatest eclipse, 4:13 a.m. Universal Time, 96.3% percent of the Moon's disk is within Earth's umbra, the central part of the shadow where the Sun is completely blocked by Earth. This part of the eclipse is visible in the Americas (except Alaska and northwestern Canada), western Europe and western Africa.”
According to NASA, the ‘penumbra is the part of Earth’s shadow where the Sun is only partially covered by Earth’.
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The organization went on to say: “The effect of the penumbra on the Moon's appearance is subtle. But after the partial phase begins, at 2:34 UTC (10:34 p.m. Eastern on the night of the 27th), the umbra's dramatic effect is easily visible as it takes an increasingly large bite out of the disk of the full Moon.
A near total lunar eclipse is coming to the US
“Less than an hour later, the part of the Moon still in sunlight will be small enough for observers' eyes to adapt to darkness and perceive the coppery color of the part of the Moon within the umbra. The visualizations here mimic this dark adaptation by increasing the apparent photographic exposure around the time of greatest eclipse.”
While California will see a speculator show of a near total eclipse, a partial lunar eclipse will be visible across the US, Canada as well as Central and South America.
This means that a whopping three billion people will be able to catch at least part of the event.
Solar eclipse in Europe
This news comes just weeks after Europe experienced its first total solar eclipse in nearly 30 years.
The major celestial event was visible across the continent earlier this month, with the likes of Spain, Iceland and Greenland expected to be able to view it in totality.
The rest of Europe saw a partial eclipse, with the UK and Ireland experiencing a large partial eclipse which covered over 90% of the Sun.
The last time this part of the world experienced a major solar eclipse was back in August 1999, with France, Germany, Austria, and parts of the UK getting a spectacular partial-to-total view.