It's been an exciting year to look in thy sky, from the solar eclipse this spring to great views of the northern lights across Nebraska and Iowa! And the fun doesn't stop there! Tuesday night, we have a partial lunar eclipse to enjoy, although it's not quite as cool as a solar eclipse.
A partial lunar eclipse is more common than a solar eclipse, and a lot more of the earth can see it. Instead of the moon casting its shadow on the earth, the moon will cross through the earth's shadow this time.
Due to how much bigger the sun is compared to the earth, our shadow has two sections. The inner or full shadow is where nearly all light is blocked by the earth. Outside that area, there is a partial shadow where only some of the sun's light is blocked out.
The edge of the moon will start to enter the partial shadow at 7:39 Tuesday (9/17) evening. At this point, most of the moon is still at full brightness. More of the moon will then start to enter the shadow, and at 9:12, the moon will be all the way in the partial shadow, lowering the brightness of the entire moon, but not completely block out its light. The peak of the eclipse will happen at 9:44, and at that point, a small part of the moon will be in the earth's full shadow, giving that piece a slight red color. The moon will start to exit the shadow at 10:17 p.m. and fully exit the shadow at 11:49 Tuesday night.
The next lunar eclipse will be March 2025, but that one will be a total eclipse, where the moon will fully enter the earth's full shadow, not just the partial shadow, giving the whole moon a slight red color.
Even though it has been a cloudy start to Tuesday, skies should clear in the afternoon and stay mostly clear for the eclipse across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.
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