Total Lunar Eclipse of November 09
Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 22:15:00 UT
Partial Eclipse Begins: 23:32:21 UT
Total Eclipse Begins: 01:06:07 UT
Greatest Eclipse: 01:18:23 UT
Total Eclipse Ends: 01:30:38 UT
Partial Eclipse Ends: 03:04:24 UT
Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 04:21:48 UT
The second lunar eclipse of the year occurs six lunations after the first. It takes place at the ascending node of Luna's orbit in Aries. This time, the Moon is 1.4 days shy of apogee and appears 12% smaller (= 29.4 arc-minutes) than it was during May's eclipse. The Moon's trajectory takes it well to the south of the umbral shadow's central axis resulting in a total eclipse which lasts just 25 minutes. At mid-totality, the Moon's southern limb is a scant 0.6 arc-minutes from the umbra's edge. Even the northern limb is 23.4 arc-minutes from the centre of the shadow. Assuming that the transparency of Earth's atmosphere remains relatively unchanged, the November eclipse will be dramatically brighter than the May event because of the shallow umbral depth. Since different parts of the Moon will probe radically different portions of Earth's umbral shadow, a large variation in shadow brightness can be expected. The totally eclipsed Moon will appear to have a bright rim along its southern edge.
