A Lunar Eclipse Awaits Us at the End of the Week
An interesting phenomenon will appear in the night sky on Friday, March 14. From Slovakia, the lunar eclipse will be visible only as a penumbral eclipse in the morning before the Moon sets. The Moon will enter the penumbra at 4:57 AM. About an hour later, at 5:52 AM, the Sun will rise, and at 6:10 AM, the Moon will set while still in the penumbra, just before entering the Earth's full shadow. The total lunar eclipse will be visible from South and North America, the Atlantic Ocean, Western Europe, and Western Africa.
"A lunar eclipse can only occur when the Moon is directly opposite the Sun in relation to the Earth, meaning during the full moon phase. The reason this does not happen during every full moon is that the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted at an angle of about 5 degrees relative to the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Therefore, an eclipse can only occur when the full Moon is near the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun," explains Ján Svoreň from the Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS).
The full moon occurring on March 14 at 7:55 AM is not yet a spring full moon, as spring officially begins on March 20. The next full moon, on April 13, 2025, will be the first spring full moon. "The following Sunday, April 20, 2025, will be Easter Sunday. This is why Easter falls so late this year," adds Ján Svoreň.
Edited by Monika Tináková
Source: Astronomický ústav SAV, v. v. i.
Foto: Wikimedia