Time Lapse of a Total Lunar Eclipse

On April 29th, some lucky skywatchers will get to see the “Ring of Fire”–the year’s first solar eclipse that will make the sun appear to be a series of rings. Space.com shares this map to check whether your viewing will be optimal. Who are the lucky winners? Why, the penguins of Antarctica. But humans in some parts of Australia will get to see it as well.

Did you miss the spectacular total lunar eclipse on April 15th? NASA featured this video today, and don’t worry; that eclipse was the first in an 18-month series, as we reported here on Big Think.

NASA has more on the April15th total lunar eclipse, and a video below:

Why would a bright full Moon suddenly become dark? Because it entered the shadow of the Earth. Almost two weeks ago this exact event happened as the Moon underwent a total lunar eclipse. That eclipse, visible from the half of the Earth then facing the Moon, was captured in numerousspectacularphotographs and is depicted in the above time lapse video covering about an hour. The above video, recorded from Mt. Lemmon Sky Center in Arizona, USA, keeps the Earth shadow centered and shows the Moon moving through it from west to east. The temporarily good alignment between Earth, Moon, and Sun will show itself again tomorrow — precisely half a moon-th (month) later — when part of the Earth will pass through part of the new Moon’s shadow.

Image credit: Aphelleon/Shutterstock