Total Eclipse of the Moon: April 15, 2014

The world has not witnessed a total lunar eclipse for two and a half years now. On April 15, 2014, the wait will be over. Observers throughout North and South America will see the event in its entirety; those in northwestern Africa and Greenland will see the beginning stages of the eclipse, while northeastern Asia and Australia will witness only the later stages.

The times for the various stages of the eclipse are given below in Eastern Daylight Time. Subtract one hour to convert to CDT, two hours to convert to MDT, and three hours to convert to PDT. The eclipse begins when the Moon enters the light penumbral shadow at 12:54 A.M. The partial phase starts when the Moon enters the darker umbral shadow at 1:58 A.M. Totality commences at 3:07 A.M. and lasts until 4:25 A.M., with mid-totality coming at 3:46 A.M. The partial eclipse ends at 5:33 A.M., and the penumbral phase wraps up at 6:37 A.M.

The northern half of the Moon will be darker because it passes closest to the center of Earth’s shadow. With the naked eye, near the onset of totality, most of the Moon will take on an orange-red hue.

The exact appearance of the Moon will depend on the state of our atmosphere. Astronomers estimate the brightness of an eclipse using the five-point Danjon scale, proposed by Andre-Louis Danjon in 1921. If the Moon barely shows up, it ranks at 0 on the scale. At the other extreme, a value of 4 indicates a brilliant orange Moon.