February 2017 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Over Every Continent Except Australia

Summary: The February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse is visible over every continent except Australia.

details for penumbral lunar eclipse of Feb. 11, 2017: Eclipse map/figure/table/predictions courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Public Domain, via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse that ushers in the year’s lineup of two lunar and two solar eclipses is visible over every continent except Australia.

Visibility of February’s penumbral lunar eclipse happens Friday, Feb. 10, in the Western Hemisphere. Eclipse visibility for most of the Eastern Hemisphere takes place Saturday morning, Feb. 11.

On the Asian mainland in the Eastern Hemisphere, visibility does not extend to Russia’s Far East, northeastern China, North Korea or South Korea. The February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse disfavors most of the Pacific Ocean. Major Pacific islands, such as Japan, New Guinea, New Zealand, the Philippines and Taiwan, are outside of the geographic regions of eclipse visibility.

All of the Lower 48 states of the continental United States have eclipse visibility. The United States’ five Caribbean territories (disputed Bajo Nuevo Bank, disputed Navassa Island, Puerto Rico, disputed Serranilla Bank, U.S. Virgin Islands) also fall within the eclipse’s viewing regions.

Western Alaska falls outside of the visibility path. The state of Hawaii joins the United States 11 Pacific territories in exclusion for viewing the February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse.

The February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse begins with the instant of the moon’s first contact with Earth’s penumbra, the weak part of Earth’s shadow. The instant of first contact is identified as P1.

NASA’s eclipse expert, retired astrophysicist Fred Espenak, gives Friday, Feb. 10, at 22:34 Coordinated Universal Time as the start time for the penumbral lunar eclipse. For continental U.S. time zones, the eclipse begins Friday, Feb. 10, at 5:34 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 4:34 p.m. Central Standard Time; 3:34 p.m. Mountain Standard Time; 2:34 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. For U.S. territories in the Caribbean Sea, the eclipse starts at 6:34 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time.

The eclipse ends with the instant of last contact with Earth’s penumbral shadow. The last contact instant is identified as P4.

Espenak, known popularly as Mr. Eclipse, gives Saturday, Feb. 11, at 02:53 UTC as the penumbral lunar eclipse’s instant of last contact. For continental U.S. time zones, P4 happens Friday, Feb. 10, at 9:53 p.m. EST; 8:53 p.m. CST; 7:53 p.m. MST; 6:53 p.m. PST. For U.S. Caribbean territories, eclipse ending time is 10:53 p.m. AST.

In between first and last contacts, the greatest eclipse is logged. The greatest eclipse marks the instant of the moon’s closest passage to the axis of Earth’s shadow. Greatest eclipse occurs Saturday, Feb. 11, at 00:43 UTC. For continental U.S. time zones, greatest eclipse happens Friday, Feb. 10, at 7:43 p.m. EST; 6:43 p.m. CST; 5:43 p.m. MST; 4:43 p.m. PST. For U.S. Caribbean territories, greatest eclipse takes place at 7:43 p.m. AST.

The eclipse’s duration is 4 hours 19 minutes. Lacking the drama of total or partial umbral lunar eclipses, penumbral lunar eclipses do not offer visibility for the event’s entire duration. A possible span of one to two hours for best visibility centers on the instant of greatest eclipse.

The February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse is the first of the year’s two lunar eclipses. The second eclipse, which will be partial, takes place in August.

The August 2017 event is a partial lunar eclipse. Entrance by only a portion of the moon into Earth’s umbral segment occasions a partial lunar eclipse.

The takeaway for the February 2017 penumbral lunar eclipse is that its wide visibility encompasses six of Earth’s seven continents and parts or all of Earth’s five oceans.

Earth’s orientation, as viewed from the moon’s center during greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

details for penumbral lunar eclipse of Feb. 11, 2017: Eclipse map/figure/table/predictions courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Public Domain, via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2017Feb11N.pdf

Earth’s orientation, as viewed from the moon’s center during greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2017Feb11.png

For further information:

“Eclipses in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/honolulu

Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 2017 Feb 11.” Eclipse Wise > Lunar Eclipses.
Available @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2017Feb11Nprime.html

Espenak, Fred. Thousand Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1501 to 2500. Portal AZ: Astropixels Publishing, 2014.

Espenak, Fred, and Jean Meeus. “Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Publications Online.
Available @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE2001-2100.html

“February 10 / February 11, 2017  Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2017-february-11

Marriner, Derdriu. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Sept. 16 Is Last of Three 2016 Lunar Eclipses.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/09/penumbral-lunar-eclipse-sept16-is-last.html

McClure, Bruce. “Penumbral Eclipse on Night of February 10.” EarthSky > Tonight. Feb. 10, 2017.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/penumbral-eclipse-on-night-of-february-10

“Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide -- Next 10 Years.” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html

Webb, Brian. “Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).” Space Archive. March 27, 2016.
Available @ http://www.spacearchive.info/utc.htm

“What Does the Magnitude of an Eclipse Mean?” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/magnitude.html