Categories: Moon

Lunar Eclipse To Occur Within Hours

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — There will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse tonight beginning with the moonrise over the Atlantic Ocean on Florida’s east coast around 6:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, October 18, 2013 (with slight time deviations based on your exact location).

An hour later, tonight’s Full Moon will be 99.2% full at 7:38 p.m. before it sets at 8:55 a.m. the following Saturday morning. A Full Moon in October has seasonal names such as a “Hunter’s Moon” or “Blood Moon.”

After the Full Moon rises, the greatest eclipse will occur at 7:50 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time / 23:50 Universal Time. The eclipse will end at 9:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Penumbral lunar eclipses are not a spectacular as the bright copper-red total eclipses. But there is a noticeable darkening of the moon with the slight chance of a darker brown-red hue.

The lunar eclipse can be best viewed from eastern South America, Africa, and Europe. North America, western South America, and Asia will only be able to view the lunar eclipse during the moonrise or moonset as the NASA diagram shows:

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC

For those planning a stroll along the beach on the U.S. East Coast to watch the lunar eclipse, this Full Moon brings along with it a 4-foot plus Atlantic Ocean high tide that will occur around 8 p.m., with a few minutes of variation depending on your exact location.

Are Blood Moons Red?

The date of a full moon, all by itself, doesn’t affect the full moon’s color. Although the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of the full moon on October 18, 2013 is unlikely to produce a red Blood Moon, the viewer’s local atmospheric conditions such as pollution from a city, or ash and dust clouds from a forest fire or high winds, could cause the Moon to become red.

Image and Video Credit: NASA