Wednesday, Sep. 18, Partial Lunar Eclipse Is Second 2024 Lunar Eclipse

Summary: The Wednesday, Sep. 18, partial lunar eclipse is the second of two 2024 lunar eclipses and occurs as third in the year's lineup of four eclipses.

Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024, penumbral lunar eclipse details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Wednesday, Sep. 18, partial lunar eclipse is the second of two 2024 lunar eclipses, takes place as third in the year's lineup of four eclipses and favors South America.

September's partial lunar eclipse begins as a penumbral eclipse, segues to partiality, exits from partiality and then exits from Earth's penumbra. The entire eclipse has an expected duration of 4 hours 06 minutes 56 seconds, according to retired NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) astrophysicist Fred Espenak's eclipse predictions in "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 2024 Sep 18" on his EclipseWise website. Within this time frame, partiality lasts for 1 hour 03 minutes 39 seconds.

The eclipse begins Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 00:41:00 Coordinated Universal Time (Tuesday, Sep. 17, at 8:41 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and at 9:41 p.m. Brasília Time and Chile Summer Time; Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 1:41 a.m. West Africa Time and Western European Summer Time and at 2:41 a.m. Central European Summer Time). First exterior contact between Earth's penumbra (Latin: penumbra, from paene, “almost," + umbra, “shadow”), that is, the light, outer portion of Earth's shadow, and the lunar surface initiates the penumbral eclipse.

The partial component of September's lunar eclipse commences Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 02:12:45 UTC (Tuesday, Sep. 17, at 10:12 p.m. EDT and at 11:12 p.m. BRT and CLST; Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 3:12 a.m. WAT and WEST and at 4:12 a.m. CEST). First exterior contact between Earth's umbra, that is, the shadow's darker, inner region, and the lunar surface signals the start of the partial lunar eclipse.

Greatest eclipse references the instant of the closest lunar passage to the axis of Earth's shadow cone. September's greatest eclipse happens Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 02:44:16 UTC (Tuesday, Sep. 17, at 10:44 p.m. EDT and at 11:44 p.m. BRT and CLST; Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 3:44 a.m. WAT and WEST and at 4:44 a.m. CEST). The moon attains its zenithal point at greatest eclipse near São Luís in Brazil's Northeast Region (Portuguese: Região Nordeste). The capital of the state of Maranhão is sited on Upaon-Açu (Tupi: "Big Island"; Portuguese: ilha de São Luís), an island in Baía de São Marcos (English: Saint Mark's Bay), an extension of the Atlantic Ocean.

The last exterior contact between Earth's umbra and the lunar surface marks the end of the lunar event's partial eclipse. This last exterior umbral contact happens Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 03:16:24 UTC (Tuesday, Sep. 17, at 11:16 p.m. EDT; Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 12:16 a.m. BRT and CLST and at 4:16 a.m. WAT and WEST and at 5:16 a.m. CEST).

September's eclipse terminates with the end of the event's penumbral eclipse. The last exterior contact between Earth's penumbra and the lunar surface stops the penumbral eclipse. This last exerior penumbral contact takes place Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 04:47:56 UTC (Wednesday, Sep. 18, at 12:47 a.m. EDT, at 1:47 a.m. BRT and CLST and at 5:47 a.m. WAT and WEST and at 6:47 a.m. CEST).

The Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024, continentally favors South America with full visibility. Africa, Antarctica and Europe experience varying visibility, from full to little. Australia is the only continent completely excluded from the event's visibility region. North America's westernmost Alaska and central to eastern Asia also lie outside of the event's visibility region.

The zenith latitude and zenith longitude at the beginning of the penumbral eclipse are given as 03 degrees 12.9 minutes south and 012 degrees 17.9 degrees west, according to the EclipseWise Prime Page for the Sep. 18, 2024, partial lunar eclipse. These coordinates reference a point in the South Atlantic Ocean that is northeast of Ascension Island. The isolated volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean is a constituent part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

The zenith latitude and longitude at the start of partiality are detailed at 02 degrees 45.0 minutes south and 034 degrees 26.5 degrees west. This zenithal point is located in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Natal, capital and Atlantic port of mainland Brazil's northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte. Partiality's starting zenithal location also lies northwest of Vila dos Remédios, largest village and unofficial capital of Fernando do Noronha, largest island of the 21 islands in Pernambuco state's Fernando do Noronha Archipelago (Portuguese: Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha).

The southwestern Atlantic Ocean also claims the greatest eclipse's zenith latitude and longitude, 02 degrees 35.4 minutes south, 042 degrees 03.1 minutes west. This zenithal point is sited in Brazil's Northeast Region, offshore of the state of Maranhão's Parnaíba River Delta (Portuguese: Delta do Parnaíba), north of the delta's Ilha do Caju (Cashew Island) and northwest of the delta's Ilhas das Canárias (Canary Island).

Partiality's ending zenithal coordinates are listed as 02 degrees 25.7 minutes south, 049 degrees 48.5 minutes west. This zenithal point is located in the Brazilian North Region's (Portuguese: Região Norte) municipality (município) of Oeiras do Pará, southwest of Belém, capital of the state of Pará and gateway to the Amazon River (Portuguese: Rio Amazonas).

The lunar eclipse contacts for the end of the penumbral eclipse are specified at 01 degrees 57.8 degrees south latitude and 071 degrees 54.0 degrees west longitude. These coordinates place the zenithal point over the municipality (Spanish: municipalizada) of Puerto Arica in the department of Amazonas in southern Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia).

The Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024, partial lunar eclipse appears as the second of two lunar eclipses in 2024. The year's first lunar eclipse had occurred Monday, March 25, as a penumbral eclipse.

September's partial lunar eclipse numbers as third in 2024's lineup of four eclipses. It follows a total solar eclipse that took place Monday, April 8, as the first of the year's two solar eclipses. September's partial lunar eclipse precedes the year's fourth and last eclipse, an annular eclipse on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Earth's orientation, as viewed from the moon's center during the Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024, penumbral lunar eclipse's greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia, 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.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024, penumbral lunar eclipse details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2024Sep18P.pdf

Earth's orientation, as viewed from the moon's center during the Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024, penumbral lunar eclipse's greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2024Sep18.png

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. "Greatest eclipse." EclipseWise > Glossary of Lunar Eclipse Terms.
Available via EclipseWise @ https://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEhelp/LEglossary.html#greatest

Espenak, Fred. "Key to Lunar Eclipse Global Maps." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Page > Lunar Eclipses: 2021-2030.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplotkey.html

Espenak, Fred. "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 2024 Sep 18." EclipseWise > Eclipse Preview: 2021 Through 2030 > Solar and Lunar Eclipses of 2024 > Partial Lunar Eclipse 2024 Sep 18.
Available via EclipseWise @ https://eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2024Sep18Pprime.html

Espenak, Fred. "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 2024 Sep 18." EclipseWise > Recent and Upcoming Eclipses > Observer's Handbook - Eclipses During the Year (a detailed look at every eclipse in a given year) > 2024 > Eclipses During 2024 > 2024 Sep 18: Partial Lunar Eclipse.
Available via EclipseWise @ https://eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2024.html#LE2024Sep18P

Espenak, Fred. "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 2024 Sep 18." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses: Past and Future > Decade long tables of past and future lunar eclipses include links to dates, diagrams, maps and details: 2021-2030 > Lunar Eclipses: 2021-2030 > 2024 Sep 18.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2024Sep18P.pdf

Espenak, Fred. "Table of Lunar Eclipses: 2021 through 2030." EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Links > Decade Tables of Lunar Eclipses: 2021-2030.
Available via EclipseWise @

Marriner, Derdriu. "2017 Partial Lunar Eclipse Favors Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/08/2017-partial-lunar-eclipse-favors.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "First of Three 2013 Lunar Eclipses Happens April 25 as Partial Eclipse." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 17, 2013.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/first-of-three-2013-lunar-eclipses.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "First of Two 2012 Lunar Eclipses Happens June 4 as Partial Eclipse." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 30, 2012.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/05/first-of-two-2012-lunar-eclipses.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Friday, Nov. 19, Partial Lunar Eclipse Is Second 2021 Lunar Eclipse." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/11/friday-nov-19-partial-lunar-eclipse-is.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Partial Lunar Eclipse July 16 to July 17 Is Second 2019 Lunar Eclipse." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 10, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/07/partial-lunar-eclipse-july-16-to-july.html

Time and Date. "September 17–18, 2024 Partial Lunar Eclipse." Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available via Time and Date @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2024-september-18