There’s a lunar eclipse 🌞🌎🪱🌕, but it won’t be very visible.
Before we get to the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse comes on March 24–25, 2024, during the full Worm Moon.
Two and sometimes three eclipse seasons occur during a year. The seasons last approximately 35 days and are roughly six months apart. During eclipse season, a lunar eclipse happens on the full moon, and a solar eclipse occurs on a new moon. For 2024, the eclipse seasons are March–April and September–October. The first season has a penumbral lunar eclipse on March 24–25 and a total solar eclipse on April 8. The second season has a partial lunar eclipse on September 17–18 and an annular solar eclipse on October 2.
During a lunar eclipse, Earth gets in the way of the sun’s light hitting the moon. That means that during the night, a full moon fades away as Earth’s shadow covers it up.
Credit: Rice Space Institute
Where can you see it?
The March penumbral lunar eclipse is visible in Japan, the Americas, western Africa, western Europe, several oceans, and Antarctica. It is a deep penumbral eclipse, meaning that the Moon almost completely enters Earth’s lighter penumbral shadow and never enters the darker inner umbral shadow.
March 24–25, 2024: Deep Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Visibility Map. CREDIT: Dominic Ford, in-the-sky.org
The animation from timeanddate.com shows the eclipse’s progress on a world map over its duration.
What does it look like?
Penumbral eclipses are very subtle, and depending on the lights around you and the atmosphere, many people will never even notice the slight darkening of the Moon.
This animation from timeanddate.com shows the progress of the Moon in relation to Earth’s penumbral and umbral shadows during the eclipse’s progress.
When is the eclipse?
| Eclipse Stages Worldwide | UTC Time | EDT Time | PDT Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penumbral Eclipse begins | Mar 25 at 04:53:16 | Mar 25 at 12:53:16 am | Mar 24, 2024 at 9:53 pm |
| Maximum Eclipse | Mar 25 at 07:12:51 | Mar 25 at 3:12:51 am | Mar 25, 2024 at 12:12 am |
| Penumbral Eclipse ends | Mar 25 at 09:32:27 | Mar 25 at 5:32:27 am | Mar 25, 2024 at 2:32 am |
Good luck observing the lunar eclipse if you are in the area of visibility. Then next is the lunar eclipse’s partner eclipse, a total eclipse of the Sun. This eclipse is not too exciting but April 8, 2024, will be amazing. Get your glasses and have fun!
