Penumbral Lunar Eclipse 18-19 October 2013

Tonight there is a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. This type of eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s penumbra, that is the outer shadow (seen above). The penumbra causes a subtle darkening of the Moon's surface as viewed here on Earth. At no time during this eclipse does the Moon pass through the inner shadow, the Umbra. The amount of darkening depends on a number of conditions and is very hard to predict.

The eclipse itself will be visible across all of Europe and Africa and over Eastern parts of North and South America. For those of us in Europe this will be the last lunar eclipse visible until the Total Lunar Eclipse of 28 September 2015.