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Science and Innovations

Early Risers Can Catch Total Lunar Eclipse On Wednesday

Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Early risers tomorrow morning will have a chance to see the full moon disappear behind Earth’s shadow in a total lunar eclipse. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Subtle shading will begin to pass over the face of the Moon around 2am Mountain Standard Time. Totality begins just after 4am, when the moon plunges into the deepest part of the shadow and turns blood red. In this eclipse, totality lasts for fourteen minutes. Skywatchers will be able to see the Earth’s shadow slipping away for about another hour, until the moon sets below the western horizon.

This is the only chance to see a total lunar eclipse in 2021. For those who would like to experience the event through a telescope and hear astronomers speak about the science of eclipses, Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory is hosting a livestream on its YouTube channel starting at 2:30am.

More about the timing of Wednesday's eclipse: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/phoenix

Melissa joined KNAU's team in 2015 to report on science, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR and been featured on Science Friday. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert.
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