ENID, OK - A partial lunar eclipse will happen early Friday morning on November 19. The eclipse will peak at 3am in Oklahoma. Even though it’s not a total eclipse only a sliver of the moon will not be in the Earth’s shadow. Up to 99.1% of the moon will pass into Earth's umbra.
NASA predicts the eclipse will last over 3 hours and 28 minutes. That would make it the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years, according to the Holcomb Observatory at Butler University.
Because of the reddish color, a lunar eclipse is often called a “blood moon.” Just how red it will look is hard to predict, but dust in the atmosphere can have an effect.
Lunar eclipses take place when the Moon is full, and this full Moon happens when the Moon is also near its closest point to Earth in its orbit, often called a “supermoon.”
Unlike solar eclipses, which you should never look at, it’s safe to view lunar eclipses with your eyes. And unlike solar eclipses, which tend to have a narrower viewing path, lunar eclipses are at least partly visible anywhere on the planet’s night side.
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2015 SUPERMOON LUNAR ECLIPSE
A supermoon lunar eclipse is a rare event that has only occurred five times since 1900. On September 27, 2015, this phenomenon was visible in the night sky. Sky watchers were be able to view the total lunar eclipse of the largest moon for over an hour.
A supermoon is a full moon that occurs at, or very near, perigee and appears abnormally big in the sky as a result. In fact, supermoons appear about 14 percent larger and 30 brighter than apogee full moons, which are also known as "minimoons."
Lunar and solar eclipses are both caused by alignments of the moon, Earth and sun. In the case of a lunar eclipse, the Earth is the middle of this line and the moon passes into the planet's shadow. But the moon doesn't go completely dark during total eclipses; rather, it often turns a reddish hue because it's hit by sunlight bent by Earth's atmosphere. For this reason, total lunar eclipses are often referred to as "blood moons."
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Lunar Eclipse April 2015
Enid residents were able to see the lunar eclipse with the naked eye this morning. The eclipse began around 5am as a full moon turned celestial red.
The eclipse encompassed the moon around 6:58am with the greatest view of the eclipse coming at 7am. The eclipse was visible from all parts of the United States and ended around 7:03am. The total eclipse only lasted about five minutes.
The moon appeared to have a red shade because the sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere becomes tinted red as seen during sunrise and sunset. Throughout the total eclipse, the red glow that surrounds the Earth, and that red light that scatters, caused the moon to appear red.
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Lunar Eclipse 2014
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Full Moons Over Enid
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