Longest Partial Lunar Eclipse in nearly 600 years will be visible early Friday morning

COLUMBUS, GA ( WRBL )- Set your alarms! A partial Lunar eclipse will be visible across east Alabama and west Georgia early Friday morning! This will be the longest partial lunar eclipse we have seen in nearly 600 years.

Look to the sky during the predawn hours of Nov. 19 or early Friday morning for the show. A partial lunar eclipse is when the moon, passes through a portion of the Earth’s shadow or umbra. When this happens, the moon will eventually darken and take on a reddish color with a little slither of the moon’s southern edge sticking out. Early Friday morning you can expect roughly 95-97% of the moon’s face to be covered in the deep part of the Earth’s shadow, just shy of becoming a total lunar eclipse.

The lunar eclipse will begin at 1:02 a.m. but around 2:18 a.m. EST the moon will begin to enter the penumbra or the outer layer of Earth’s shadow. This is when the partial eclipse begins and you’ll notice the moon becoming a little darker. The peak of the partial eclipse will happen around 4:02 a.m. EST when the moon enters the umbra, this is when we can expect the moon to take on a reddish color. The partial eclipse will end at 5:47 a.m. EST and the entire eclipse will end around 7:03 a.m.

This will take place over a span of 3 hours, 28 minutes and 24 seconds making it the longest partial eclipse in nearly 600 years and the longest one we will likely see in our lifetime. The entire lunar eclipse will last roughly 6 hours and one minute with viewing visible in both North and South America, Australia, some parts of Europe and Asia.

Our next lunar eclipse will happen on May 15-16 2022. The sun, Earth and moon will line up perfectly and the moon will pass through the entire part of the Earth’s umbra. This will create a total lunar eclipse and the moon will darken and appear red.

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