Sky Events

Partial Lunar Eclipse – August 7, 2017

Xavier Dequevy’s Total Lunar Eclipse composite image of March 03, 2007 made with the TV-NP101is. Note that the Aug. 7, 2017 eclipse will be partial.

Some phase of this lunar eclipse is visible from the eastern tip of South America to Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.  All phases are visible in the region encompassing east Africa, Central Asia, and most of Australia. This means most of the Americas will not see this event. (Don’t fret! Our consolation prize will be the total solar eclipse in just two weeks after!) The eclipse is “partial” because the moon just clips the deepest part of the Earth’s shadows — the “umbra”.

Eclipse map courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, from eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

First contact with the umbra (U1) is at about 17:23 UT. By this time the lunar limb entering the umbra should show obvious darkening and color changes. By maximum phase (about 18:22 UT) that limb can show orange to reddish shading (each eclipse is different). The moon exists the umbra at about 18:18 UT (U4).

FoneMate™ fits many Tele Vue eyepieces. See Tele Vue Eyepiece Spec chart for compatibility.

(For those outside the USA), this is a great naked-eye event to point out to your friends and neighbors. You can create a close-up video of this event by using just your smartphone camera/video app and a FoneMate™ mounted on a short focal-length refractor.

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