Eclipse of Nothingness: Friday Night Lunar Eclipse

By Francis Graham

Professor Emeritus

Kent State University 
 

An eclipse of the Moon will happen in the midnight hour of May 24-25, 2013. 

 

It is such a slight eclipse that one wonders why the Almighty bothered to order it at all.

The Moon will just “nip” the penumbra, the zone where the Sun is partially obscured by the Earth. Nothing will be noticeable. Maybe a sensitive photometer can record the eclipse. Maybe.

The Path of the Moon for 12 hours in Scorpius. The inner circle is the umbra, the part of space at the Moon’s distance where the Sun in completely obscured by Earth. The outer circle is the penumbra, where the Sun is partly obscured by Earth.. Because the Moon will barely contact the penumbra, we can expect no darkening of the Moon, to the eye. It will look like an ordinary full moon.

What there is of this eclipse will start at 3:53 UT ( 7 minutes to midnight) max out at 4:09:58 UT (ten minutes after midnight) and end 26 minutes after midnight Eastern Daylight Time. The whole lower 48 states will see what there is of it.

Don’t expect much from this eclipse. In fact, don’t expect anything.

Source: Meridian Passage Blog by Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Kent State University.

NASA Web Page on May 24-25 Eclipse:
Link >>> http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2013May25N.pdf

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