Thursday night’s ‘Beaver Moon’ to feature longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years

ST. GEORGE — A partial lunar eclipse of November’s “Beaver Moon” will culminate just after 2 a.m. on Friday morning – a spectacle to behold amid thousands of twinkling, autumn stars.

Composite image depicting rotation of partial lunar eclipse in night sky above St. George and viewing times for Washington County | Images courtesy of TimeandDate, St. George News

Southern Utah, and across the North American continent, is prime real estate for anyone viewing the partial lunar eclipse. The event will begin shortly after 11 p.m. MTD on Thursday, reaching its peak at 2:02 a.m., and finish a few minutes after 5 a.m. on Friday, according to Time and Date.

The Moon will stay above the horizon during this eclipse, so with good weather conditions in Washington County, the entire eclipse will be visible – and celestial gazers will not want to miss this event, as it is the final lunar eclipse of the year.

There will be ample time to observe this partial eclipse, as NASA expects it to last nearly 3 1/2 hours – making it the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years.

lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon align so that the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. In a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon falls within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, or the umbra. This eclipse is categorized as an “almost total lunar eclipse” by NASA, meaning up to 99.1% of the moon’s disk will dip within the Earth’s umbra.

The partial lunar eclipse is accompanied by a star cluster as the moon moves through the western portion of the constellation Taurus, with the Pleiades star cluster to the upper right, and the Hyades cluster to the lower left.

The following includes skywatching tips for the month of November.

During the partial lunar eclipse, the moon will turn dark-red due to the same phenomenon that makes the sky blue and sunsets red and is referred to as Rayleigh scattering (the scattering of light by particles in a medium, without a change in wavelength).

With this, red light travels more directly through the atmosphere, so that when the sun is overhead, blue light can be seen throughout the sky. When the sun is setting, light must pass through more atmosphere and travel farther before it can be seen by the human eye.

As such, blue light from the sun scatters, while red, orange and yellow, which have longer wavelengths, pass through the atmosphere.

Hence, during a lunar eclipse, the Moon turns red since the only sunlight reaching the Moon has to pass through Earth’s atmosphere first. And the more dust or clouds that are present during the eclipse, the redder the moon will appear.

Pleaides star cluster taken June 15, 2015 | Photo courtesy of NASA, St. George News

Pleiades Cluster – Seven Sisters

The partial lunar eclipse is accompanied by the Pleiades star cluster as the moon moves through the western portion of the constellation Taurus, with the Pleiades to the upper right, and the Hyades cluster to the lower left.

The Pleiades star cluster – also known as the Seven Sisters, signals the coming of winter. This spray of tiny stars is located in Orion’s Belt and is visible from virtually every part of the globe – from as far north as the North Pole to the southernmost tip of South America.

As a general rule, the Pleiades cluster rises in the eastern sky and sets in the west, and the best way to see all of the stars in the cluster is through binoculars or low power in a telescope.

The cluster was named by the Greeks and means “to sail.” In the Mediterranean world during ancient times, the day that the Pleiades cluster first appeared in the morning sky before sunrise announced the opening of the navigation season, according to EarthSky.

Viewing schedule for partial lunar eclipse 

  • Partial umbral eclipse begins: Thursday, 11:02 p.m. MDT
  • Partial eclipse begins: Friday, 12:18 a.m. MDT
  • Maximum eclipse: 2:02 a.m. MDT
  • Partial eclipse ends: 3:47  a.m. MDT
  • Penumbral eclipse ends: 5:03 a.m. MDT

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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