After Almost 600 Years, We’ll See It Again Thursday!

Six hundred years was a long time ago but history is about to repeat itself this Thursday night (Nov 18th) with the longest partial lunar eclipse in almost 600 years!

According to NASA, this partial eclipse will last for three hours and 28 minutes and unlike a solar eclipse, you wont need protective glasses to look at it.

A lunar eclipse is an astronomical phenomenon. It happens when the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth which can only occur during a full moon. They can be seen from a much larger portion of the Earth compared to solar eclipses. There are different types of lunar eclipses. There are total eclipses, where the moon passes completely through Earth's shadow and all of the moon appears reddish-brown. A partial eclipse, such as the one coming Thursday, occurs when only part of the moon passes through the Earth's shadow and so only part of the moon appears reddish-brown.

NASA says that this partial eclipse will be visible this Thursday night and early Friday across the entire country. For observers in our central time zone, the partial eclipse will begin a little after 1 a.m. Friday and reaches its maximum at 3 in the morning.

NASA also pointed out that..."Partial lunar eclipses might not be quite as spectacular as total lunar eclipses – where the moon is completely covered in the Earth's shadow – but they occur more frequently."

For more information, click here.

This is the last lunar eclipse of 2021 and it's been almost 600 years since anyone on earth has seen one like this so check it out if you can!

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