Friday 19 November appointment with the
longest partial eclipse of the Moon of the last 580 years
: it will last
3 hours and 28 minutes
, with the lunar disk that will be obscured by 97% of the shadow cone projected by the Earth. The phenomenon will occur when it is
morning
with us
,
between 8:19 and 11:47
, and for this reason it will
not
be
visible from Italy
: only the regions further north-west will be able to grasp the elusive phase of penumbra when the sky is clear for the imminent sunrise.
To fully enjoy the show, it will be possible to follow from
8.00
the
live online
organized by the
Virtual Telescope
thanks to its collaborators in the
Americas
and
Australia
, where the eclipse will be more visible. The live broadcast will also be broadcast by the ANSA Science and Technology Channel.
The partial eclipse of November 19
will be so long
because it occurs with the Moon that is now
close to apogee
, which is the
point of its orbit furthest from the Earth.
. This means that the satellite is also moving slower and therefore will take longer to cross the shadow cone of the Earth. By comparison, the May eclipse lasted 2 hours and 53 minutes.
"It is
since February 18, 1440
that
such a long partial eclipse has not occurred
: the Moon will take
almost three and a half hours to leave the shadow cone
, and even
six hours and two minutes
if we also consider the
penumbra zone.
", explains Masi. A record for a partial lunar eclipse, but not for the total ones." On November 9, 2003, for example, there was a total eclipse whose overall duration exceeded that of the eclipse by about one minute. arriving.
We also recall that in 2018 we witnessed the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century ".