Tomorrow we will welcome the first full moon of the decade, the Wolf Moon. And this not the only astronomical event happening, as tomorrow’s Wolf Moon comes paired with a penumbral lunar eclipse!
Well for starters, don’t expect to see loads of wolves. The Wolf Moon simply gets its name for being the first full moon in the year. The name goes way back to when people used to track the changing seasons by the lunar month as opposed to the solar year. Today, we use those month names to name the full moons. Besides Wolf Moon, January’s full moon also goes by Old Moon and Ice Moon.
As for the lunar eclipse tomorrow, many penumbral lunar eclipses cannot easily be distinguished from a usual full moon. If you look closely, however, you may be able to see the moon turn a shade darker during the maximum phase of the eclipse.
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon are imperfectly aligned. In this kind of eclipse, the earth blocks some of the sun’s light from directly reaching the surface of the moon and covers all or part of the moon with the outer part of its shadow, also known as the penumbra. The penumbra is much fainter than the core of the earth’s shadow, known as the umbra.
Unlike the meteor showers we all love to stay up for, you won’t have to be up late at all to catch this lunar eclipse. In fact, it begins not long after work, namely tomorrow (Friday, January 10) at 6.07pm.
It must be said, though, that is impossible to observe the start and end of the penumbral lunar eclipse, even with a telescope, so you are better off trying to see it during its maximum phase. The maximum eclipse will occur around 8.10pm and it’ll all be over by 10.12pm. We’ll have to wait until June for another penumbral lunar eclipse to happen.
Of course, as always, if you are planning on catching a glimpse of this eclipse, you’ll need to keep an eye on the weather - as those pesky clouds have a habit of getting the way!