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The worm moon hovers over Moscow in March 2022. The worm moon of 2024 will feature a penumbral lunar eclipse, with the outer edge of Earth’s shadow cast on the moon, making the bright orb appear slightly darker usual.
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A bright worm-shaped moon will light up the sky on Monday with a celestial performance reserved for people who venture out early in the morning: a penumbral lunar eclipse.
The full moon in March, called the worm moon by the Farmers’ Almanac Due to its proximity to the spring equinox, it will be at its maximum at 3 a.m. ET.
A few hours earlier, starting at 12:53 am ET, according to EarthSkyThe Moon will be almost perfectly aligned with the Sun and Earth, causing the outer edge of Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra, to be cast onto the bright orb.
Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images
The moon looks slightly darker during a 2023 penumbral lunar eclipse in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. On Monday, the lunar event will begin at 12:53 a.m. ET.
The largest eclipse will be in 3:12 a.m.. ET, when the moon will appear a little darker than usual, he said Dr. Shannon Schmolldirector of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.
“It will be almost a gradient of dimming that will occur from one side of the moon to the other. “It’s not going to be a super dramatic change in what we see on the Moon,” Schmoll said. “But if you’re sitting there looking at it, you might notice some slight variations in brightness.”
The worm moon, named by Native American tribes in reference to the larvae of beetles and other creatures that emerge from hibernation in the spring, will be visible to everyone around the world as the moon will appear to be full. for a couple of days.
However, the penumbral eclipse will only be visible to those who are in the night side of the earth when the event occurs, including Europe, North and East Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America. The lunar eclipse will end at 5:33 a.m. ET, according to EarthSky.
The penumbral eclipse occurs about two weeks before a total solar eclipse that will cross Mexico, the United States and Canada on April 8. Lunar and solar eclipses always occur in pairs because of the period in which the sun, Earth and moon remain aligned, Schmoll said. . While the full moon will be trapped in the Earth’s shadow during this penumbral eclipse, the moon’s upcoming new moon phase will allow for the conditions necessary for a solar eclipse, when the moon will be between the sun and Earth and therefore Therefore, it will block the face of the Earth. sun of sight.
An “eclipse season” is the approximate 35-day period that occurs every six months, near the equinoxes, when the almost perfect alignment of the three celestial bodies necessary for eclipses occurs, according to NASA.
A lunar eclipse does not occur monthly during every full moon because the moon’s orbital plane is tilted about 5 degrees, so for most full moons, Earth’s shadow will be just below or above the moon, Schmoll said. .
While a penumbral eclipse is not as dramatic as a total lunar eclipse, in which the moon appears eerily red, no special equipment is required to view a lunar eclipse, such as the glasses needed for a solar eclipse, Schmoll said, which is why that allows lunar eclipses. to be seen with the naked eye.
“You pretty much just need to be outside with a clear view of the moon when it happens,” Schmoll added. “(Eclipses are) always a good excuse to go out and try to look at the sky and appreciate where we are in the universe and what we can observe from our planet.”
Solar and lunar eclipses
While the most anticipated of the four eclipse events that will occur in 2024 is the total solar eclipse on April 8, an annular solar eclipse will occur over parts of South America on October 2. This type of eclipse is similar to a total solar eclipse, except that the moon is at the farthest point in its orbit from Earth, so it cannot completely block the sun. Instead, annular solar eclipses create a “ring of fire” in the sky when the sun’s fiery light surrounds the moon’s shadow.
Meanwhile, a partial lunar eclipse, in which the Earth moves between the Sun and the full Moon without being perfectly aligned, will appear over Europe and much of Asia, Africa, North America and South America between the 17th and 18th. of September.
Check Time and Date website to see when each of these eclipses will appear.
Of the 12 full moons in 2024, the September and October lunar events will be considered supermoons, according to EarthSky.
Definitions of a supermoon can vary, but the term generally denotes a full moon that is closer to Earth than normal and therefore appears larger and brighter in the night sky. Some astronomers say the phenomenon occurs when the Moon is within 90% of perigee, its closest approach to Earth in orbit.
Here are the remaining full moons of 2024:
• April 23: Pink Moon
• May 23: Flower Moon
• June 21: Strawberry Moon
• July 21: Buck Moon
• August 19: Sturgeon Moon
• September 17: Harvest Moon
• October 17: Hunter’s Moon
• November 15: Beaver Moon
• December 15: Cold Moon
Sky watchers can expect a multitude of meteor showers this year, according to the American Meteor Society. These are the dates when meteor events are expected to peak this year.
• Lyrids: April 21 and 22
• Eta Aquarids: May 4 and 5
• Southern Delta Aquarids: July 29 and 30
• Alpha Capricornids: July 30 and 31
• Perseids: August 11 and 12
• Draconids: October 7 and 8
• Orionids: October 20 and 21
• Southern Taurids: November 4 and 5
• Northern Taurids: November 11 and 12
• Leonids: November 17 and 18
• Geminids: December 13 and 14
• Ursids: December 21 and 22