![]() The umbral shadow cone extends some 1.4 million km (870,000 miles) at the distance of the Moon’s orbit, the cone’s width is about 9,000 km (5,600 miles). Penumbral shading becomes deeper as the Moon moves toward the first partial phase, which begins when the Moon’s leading edge enters Earth’s umbra. Look for a darkening on the eastern side of the Moon. We won’t see any of this happen, though, as the shading isn’t detectable until it’s about halfway across the Moon. The penumbra shadow is about 17,000 km (10,600 miles) wide and is the lighter of the two, cast when Earth covers only part of the Sun. Because the Sun isn’t a point source, the cone-shaped shadow cast by the Earth has two components: the penumbra and umbra. The first stage begins the moment the Moon’s leading edge slips into the penumbra. There are five stages of a total lunar eclipse. This means that a lunar-eclipse moonrise always happens in a very bright sky. An eclipsed Moon is always full, so the Sun sets or rises at almost the same time on the opposite horizon. For your location, check whether the Moon will rise or set during some stage of the eclipse. The map and diagram with timetable below will give you an idea of what to expect at your location. (Perth, you miss the opening minutes of the event, but this is no big deal as the subtle shadow in the early stages of a total eclipse isn’t visible to the naked eye.) China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Russia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and most of Indonesia and Australia will see the eclipse in its entirety. Totality falls on the evening of January 31st for eastern Asia and the far Pacific. Alaska, Yukon, most of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, parts of Nunavut, and Hawai‘i see the eclipse from start to finish. Honolulu and Anchorage see every stage in an enjoyably dark sky. More northwesterly Seattle sees almost the entire eclipse, missing only the subtle end stage. Los Angeles sees the end of totality in a brightening sky the Moon sets before the second partial stage is complete. The farther west/northwest the viewer, the better the event. Viewers in the western contiguous United States (roughly west of a line drawn from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to El Paso, Texas) will have good views of most of the action, with the Moon setting at the end of or soon after totality. For the East Coast, the Moon sets before totality arrives, so the best you’ll see from, say, Pittsburgh, is a partial eclipse. The eclipse occurs in the morning for western North America and the near Pacific. This sequence taken during the last total lunar eclipse on September 28, 2015, was captured in seven separate exposures with a Canon Rebel XSi DSLR and an 8-inch f/3.3 Newtonian reflector. But unlike the previous one, this eclipse is positioned perfectly for the West Coast and Pacific Rim, while the East Coast and the Atlantic Regions will see little, if any, of the show. On Wednesday, January 31, 2018, the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years graces the skies above North America. The Western United States, including Alaska and Hawaiʻi, has the best view.
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