Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Monday, September 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 7:50, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:24. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 6:34 tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow night there will be 4 lunar events occurring at the same time. Coincidence? I think not. The Moon will be full. The other events can only occur at full moon. It’s the Harvest Moon, the closest full moon to the autumnal equinox. It also happens to be a supermoon with the Moon reaching perigee, it’s closest to the Earth of the month a few hours later. Finally, the Moon will be partially eclipsed. By 9:45 PM the Moon may appear somewhat duller to the upper left than to the lower right. This is the Moon deep inside the Earth’s outer shadow called the penumbra. The actual partial phase of the eclipse will occur from 10:13 PM to 11:16 PM with the maximum occurring at 10:44 PM. With only 8 1/2 % of the Moon’s diameter covered.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The eclipse will be visible in whole or in part for North America except for extreme western Alaska, also South America, Europe, Africa, and Western Asia. The times in Universal Time (UT): September 18, 2024, first contact 02:13, mid-eclipse 02:44, last contact 03:15.