Shortest Total Lunar Eclipse of Century on 4 April 2015
The total eclipse of the
full moon on 4 April, 2015 will last less than five minutes, making it the shortest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. It’s perfect for short attention spans!
The total lunar eclipse will be visible from western North America, eastern Asia, the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. At North American time zones, that means the greatest eclipse happens
before sunrise on April 4 – the morning of April 4, not the evening. From the world’s Eastern Hemisphere – eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia –
The greatest eclipse takes place after sunset April 4.
CLICK the Links Below to Learn Eclipse Times and More:
Eclipse times in Universal Time
Eclipse times for for North American time zones
Is this the third of four Blood Moon eclipses?
Who will see a partial lunar eclipse?
What causes a lunar eclipse?
Eclipse times in Central Daylight Time from Larry Koehn
The 2015 April 4 total lunar eclipse. The moon travels eastward through the Earth’s penumbra (light outside shadow) and umbra (dark inner shadow) shadow. The yellow line depicts the ecliptic– Earth’s orbital plane. Although the moon, at least in part, spends about 3.5 hours within the umbra, it is only totally submerged in the umbra (dark shadow) for a short while, or less than 5 minutes.
Is this the third of four Blood Moon eclipses?
Depending on the algorithm being used, the April 4 lunar eclipse can be regarded as a very shallow total lunar eclipse or a very deep partial lunar eclipse. The eclipse master assures us that it’s actually a total eclipse of very short duration, despite some sites calling it a partial eclipse. Good thing, or else this April 4 eclipse wouldn’t rate as a so-called Blood Moon This eclipse counts as the third in a series of four straight total lunar eclipses – a lunat trend– all of which are visible from North America!
What is a Blood Moon ?
In any umbral lunar eclipse, the moon always passes through Earth’s very light penumbral shadow before and after its journey through the dark umbral shadow.
Who will see a partial lunar eclipse?
A partial lunar eclipse precedes the total eclipse for one hour and 42 minutes, and follows totality for one hour and 42 minutes.
So, from start to finish, the moon takes 3 hours and 29 minutes to totally cross Earth’s dark umbral shadow.
Eastern North America and western South America can see beginning stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the west
before sunrise April 4, whereas middle Asia (India, western China, mid-Asian Russia) can view the ending stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the east
after sunset April 4. Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Africa and the Middle East won’t be able see this eclipse at all
Incidentally, a very light penumbral eclipse comes before and after the dark (umbral) stage of the lunar eclipse. But this sort of eclipse is so faint that many people won’t even notice it. The penumbral eclipse would be more fun to watch from the moon, where it would be seen as a partial eclipse of the sun.
Worldwide Map of the 4 April 2015 Total Lunar Eclipse
Everyplace in white sees the whole eclipse from start to finish, whereas everyplace in black misses out entirely. See less complicated map below.
Day and Night Sides of Earth at Greatest Total Eclipse
Day and night sides of Earth at greatest eclipse (12:00 UT). The shadow line at left, running through North America, depicts sunrise (moonset). The shadow line at right, running through Asia, depicts sunset (moonrise).
What Causes a Lunar Eclipse?
A lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon. Only then is it possible for the moon to be directly opposite the sun in our sky, and to pass into the Earth’s dark umbral shadow. Most of the time, however, the full moon eludes the Earth’s shadow by swinging to the north of it, or south of it. For instance, the March 2015 full moon swung
south of the Earth’s shadow. Next month – in May 2015 – the full moon will swing
north of the Earth’s shadow.
The moon’s orbital plane around Earth is actually inclined at 5o to the
ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane around the sun. However, the moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic at two points called nodes. It’s an ascending node where it crosses the Earth’s orbital plane going from south to north, and a descending node where it crosses the Earth’s orbital plane, going from north to south.
In short, a lunar eclipse happens when the full moon closely coincides with one of its nodes, and a solar eclipse happens when a new moon does likewise. It’s not a perfect alignment this time around, with the moon crossing its ascending node about 9 hours before the moon turns full. But that’s close enough for the moon to stage a total lunar eclipse, even if it happens to be the shortest one of the 21st century!
The yellow circle shows the sun’s apparent yearly path (the ecliptic) in front of the constellations of the Zodiac. The gray circle displays the monthly path of the moon in front of the zodiacal constellations. If a new moon or full moon aligns closely with one of the moon’s nodes, then an eclipse is in the works.
Bottom line: The eclipse of April 4, 2015 is the third in a series of four total lunar eclipses – a lunar tetrad – all of which will be visible from North America. The nearby blue-white star is Spica.
Time lapse of October 8, 2014 lunar eclipse as reflected in a pond in central Illinois, by Greg Lepper.
Short 'Blood Moon' Visible From Australia
AP, 27 March 2015
Australians will have less than five minutes to see a total lunar eclipse on Easter Saturday - or face a wait of nearly three years for the next one.
The moon is due to pass through the edge of the earth's shadow late on April 4 and turn a shade of red, orange or brown.
The Sydney Observatory say totality will begin at 10.58pm (AEDT) and finish at 11.03pm, making it the briefest this century.
"It's certainly the shortest in decades," astronomer Andrew Smith told AAP.
The so-called "blood moon" should be visible across most of Australia, Mr Smith said, but will appear in slightly lighter skies earlier in the night the further west you are.
"If you're on the eastern seaboard of Australia, it will be very high in the north-east of the sky at totality," he said.
"So unless you're standing right next to a skyscraper, or unless the weather is bad, nobody should have any trouble seeing it."
The reddish colour seen during a total lunar eclipse is a reflection of light from all the sunsets and sunrises across the globe at that time.
How deep it will look depends on a number of factors, including air quality.
"What also might have a small impact is, because the moon's only skirting just inside the edge of the shadow, it might not be quite as deep an effect," Mr Smith said.
"But I don't see any reason why it wouldn't turn some sort of orangey-brown colour, it might just be a slightly-lessened effect this time."
The next total lunar eclipse visible from Australia is not expected until 31 January, 2018.
WHEN TO WATCH (all times AEDT)
* 9.16pm - start of the partial eclipse
* 10.58pm - totality begins
* 11.00pm - greatest/maximum eclipse
* 11.03pm - totality ends
* 12.44am - end of partial eclipse