The long-awaited opportunity to see a lunar eclipse has arrived. It’s not a spectacular total lunar eclipse, but from 0:12 on the 6th, the full moon will enter the Earth’s semi-shadow and a penumbral lunar eclipse will occur. During a lunar eclipse, an observer will see the moon darken, but not completely disappear.
Earth’s shadow made by sunlight consists of a half shadow that blocks part of the sunlight and a main shadow that blocks all direct sunlight. The main shadow refers to the darkest part of the shadow as the part that does not receive direct solar radiation.
When the sun, earth, and moon are arranged in the position of sun-earth-moon, if the moon is located between the earth’s main shadow and half shadow, it is called a partial lunar eclipse, and if the moon is entirely in the earth’s shadow, it is called a total lunar eclipse.
A penumbral lunar eclipse is a phenomenon in which the moon enters the half shadow of the earth, an astronomical phenomenon caused by the earth covering not all but part of the solar disk. Therefore, if an astronaut landed on the moon during a penumbral eclipse and looked at the sun, it would appear to be a partial solar eclipse. This means that when the moon is in Earth’s semi-shadow, it receives less light from the sun and becomes darker, but still remains somewhat bright.
This penumbra lunar eclipse, lasting just over four hours, will be visible from anywhere on Earth where the Moon is beyond the horizon, including Antarctica, Asia, Russia, Oceania, and eastern and central Africa. The climax of the penumbral lunar eclipse event is around 2:20 am, and the lunar eclipse ends at 4:34 am when the moon completely moves out of the Earth’s shadow.
Lee Kwang-sik, science columnist joand999@naver.com
