By Cara Beth Lewis
Photos by Cory Hester
Very early this morning, the full moon passed through Earth’s shadow. This is known as a lunar eclipse. Everyone who is living on the night-time side of the Earth right now had the opportunity to witness this, even though it was not at the most convenient time.
The eclipse lasted for several hours — the longest a partial lunar eclipse has lasted in 580 years.
Morehead Planetarium shared the following “schedule” for the eclipse on November 12th:
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2:18 a.m. – Partial eclipse begins
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4:03 a.m. – Maximum eclipse (technically still partial, but very near total)
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5:47 a.m. – Partial eclipse ends
Although lunar eclipses are very cool, they are much more common than solar eclipses. According to NASA, two to four lunar eclipses occur each year.
There are three types of lunar eclipses: total, partial, and penumbral. This morning’s lunar eclipse was partial, meaning the moon was not completely covered by the Earth’s shadow.
If you saw the lunar eclipse this morning, we hope you enjoyed the view!
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