Lunar eclipse tonight

[Glaurung]

In case you haven't already found out, there will be a lunar eclipse tonight. It should be readily visible from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America and much of North America. The first contact with the Earth's shadow is at 00:11 UTC, maximum eclipse at 02:47 UTC, and last contact at 05:22 UTC. Currently the Central European Timezone is 2 hours ahead of UTC; the UK is one hour ahead; the US Eastern Timezone is 4 hours behind.

This eclipse is also notable for coinciding with a "super-moon", i.e. the Moon is a bit closer than usual. This means that it will appear a bit bigger, and (more important for observers) the eclipse will last longer and the Moon will be darker.

For those wanting more information, there is, as ever, a BBC News article, and also the NASA Eclipse Website (from which the BBC seems to have got most of its technical information).

[Jubal]

Unless you're looking through a telescope the supermoon is unlikely to make much difference size-wise, it's only a very few percentage points difference.

I think I need sleep more than astronomy, alas

[comrade_general]

We have clouds.

[Flamekebab]

So far it looks like a waxing moon. I'll look again in a little while.

[Glaurung]

I did, in fact, wake up in the middle of the night, and go out to have a look at about the same time as Flamekebab. I think the Moon would have been more impressive when fully eclipsed, maybe about half an hour later, but I was asleep again by then

However, I've seen a fully eclipsed Moon before (and I expect I will do again), so I'm not that worried. A total solar eclipse is a whole different story...

[Jubal]

When is the next total Solar eclipse in the UK?

[comrade_general]

2017 - USA - you guys come visit - we'll road trip.

[Glaurung]

When is the next total Solar eclipse in the UK?

As far as I can tell, the next total solar eclipse visible from anywhere in the UK is not until 2090 (23 September, to be precise). Fortunately, there are several much sooner and not too far away:
- northern Spain, 12 August 2026
- southern Spain and northern Africa, 2 August 2027
NASA's Eclipse Web Site is an excellent resource for this.

2017 - USA - you guys come visit - we'll road trip.

Thanks for the offer - I definitely want to see this one!