Friday, Jan. 10, Lunar Eclipse Is First of Four 2020 Penumbral Eclipses

Summary: The Friday, Jan. 10, lunar eclipse is the first of four 2020 penumbral eclipses and also the first of the year’s six eclipses, of which two are solar.

penumbral lunar eclipse Friday, Jan. 10, details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Friday, Jan. 10, lunar eclipse is the first of four 2020 penumbral eclipses and also numbers as the first of the year’s ecliptic sextet, of which two are solar.

January’s penumbral lunar eclipse has an expected duration of 4 hours 4 minutes 34 seconds, according to NASA’s Eclipse Web Site. The year’s first eclipse begins Friday, Jan. 10, at 17:07:45 Universal Time (12:07 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). January’s penumbral lunar eclipse ends Friday, Jan. 10, at 21:12:19 UT (4:12 p.m. EST).

All seven of Earth’s continents benefit from complete or partial viewing of January’s penumbral lunar eclipse. The all-eclipse viewing region favors the entire Asian continent. Entire eclipse visibility is available to much of Africa, much of Western Australia, most of Europe and northernmost North America. In North America, most of Greenland, northernmost Canada, including the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and northern Alaska experience all-eclipse visibility.

The parts of Africa, Australia and Europe that are excluded from entire visibility are able to compensate as areas where some parts of the event are visible. Europe’s western Iberian Peninsula, western Africa and most of Australia have visibility of some parts of the eclipse.

In North America, complete and/or some visibility is available only to Greenland, one United States state and one Canadian territory. The parts of Alaska, Yukon Territory and Greenland excluded from entire visibility fall within the path in which some parts of the eclipse are visible.

Most of Antarctica, North America and South America have no eclipse visibility. Only a small chunk of Antarctica has partial viewing of the penumbral lunar eclipse. Except for Brazil’s eastern hump, South America is excluded from eclipse viewing.

The event’s greatest eclipse occurs at 19:09:59.2 UT (2:09 p.m. EST), according to NASA’s Eclipse Web Site. Greatest eclipse references the instant of the moon’s closest passage to the axis of Earth’s shadow. Greatest eclipse occurs over northwestern Madhya Pradesh state in central India, according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak’s website, EclipseWise. He gives 23 degrees north latitude, 74 degrees 24.3 minutes longitude as the terrestrial coordinates for greatest eclipse.

Fred Espenak’s EclipseWise website notes that the Jan. 10, 2020, penumbral lunar eclipse precedes lunar perigee (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + γῆ, gê, “Earth”) by three days. Perigee references the closest center-to-center distance between moon and Earth. According to Fred Espenak’s AstroPixels website, the moon achieves the month’s perigee Monday, Jan. 13, at 20:20 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (3:30 p.m. EST), at a center-to-center distance of 365,964 kilometers (227,399.48 miles).

Lunar eclipses only occur during the moon’s full phase. The moon’s phase of full illumination, from Earth’s perspective, represents exact or very close alignment of sun, Earth and moon. The full moon’s passage directly behind Earth and into Earth’s shadow occasions a lunar eclipse.

In a penumbral lunar eclipse, the moon passes through the penumbra, the light outer portion of Earth’s shadow. Earth’s penumbra subtly dims the lunar surface during a penumbral lunar eclipse.

During January’s penumbral lunar eclipse, most of the lunar disk passes through Earth’s penumbra. Only the lunar north polar region, at the topmost limb, or edge of the lunar disk, evades the penumbra.

The lunar passage through the penumbra takes place on Earth’s northern or southern penumbral edges. January’s penumbral lunar eclipse passes through the northern penumbral edge.

The Friday, Jan. 10, penumbral lunar eclipse opens 2020 as the first of the year’s four penumbral eclipses. The three other members of the year’s lunar eclipse quartet take place Friday, June 5; Sunday, July 5; and Monday, Nov. 30.

January’s penumbral lunar eclipse also numbers as the first of six eclipses, of which two are solar, that occur in 2020. The year’s two solar eclipses happen Sunday, June 21, and Monday, Dec. 14. June’s solar eclipse is annular. December’s solar eclipse is total.

The takeaways for the Friday, Jan. 10, lunar eclipse are that the year’s first lunar eclipse numbers as the first of the year’s four penumbral lunar eclipses and also that January’s lunar eclipse opens the year as the first of the year’s six eclipses, of which two are solar.

penumbral lunar eclipse Friday, Jan. 10, as viewed from center of moon during the greatest eclipse: Tom Ruen (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:

penumbral lunar eclipse Friday, Jan. 10, details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2020Jan10N.pdf

penumbral lunar eclipse Friday, Jan. 10, as viewed from center of moon during the greatest eclipse: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2020Jan10.png

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “Moon at Perigee and Apogee: 2001 to 2020 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).” AstroPixels > Planetary Ephemeris Data > Moon > Perigee and Apogee: 2001-2100. Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moonperap2001.html

Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 2020 Jan 10.” EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Lunar Eclipses > Decade Tables of Lunar Eclipses > 2011-2020.
Available @ http://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2020Jan10Nprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 2020 Jan 10.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses: 2011-2020.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2020Jan10N.pdf

Marriner, Derdriu. “February 2017 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Over Every Continent Except Australia.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/february-2017-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “February Full Moon Enters Earthly Penumbra for 2017’s First Lunar Eclipse.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/february-full-moon-enters-earthly.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “March 23 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Bypasses Africa and Europe.” Earth and Space News. Tuesday, March 22, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-23-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

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