July Full Moon 2019: 'Thunder Moon' Lunar Eclipse Meets Saturn in the Night Sky

[Judi Lynn]

By Jesse Emspak 6 hours ago

See a partial lunar eclipse (plus Saturn!) on July 16.

July's full moon, nicknamed the Thunder Moon, occurs this week on Tuesday, July 16, at 5:38 p.m. EDT (2138 GMT), 50 years to the day of NASA's Apollo 11 moon mission launch!

About 7 minutes before the full moon's peak, the moon will start to dip into Earth's shadow, kicking off the last lunar eclipse of the year. Meanwhile, Saturn will be making a close approach to the moon in the night sky.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and passes through the shadow of the Earth. This doesn't happen every time the moon is full, because the orbit of the moon is slightly askew from the plane of the Earth's orbit, and the moon usually "misses" the Earth's shadow. During a partial lunar eclipse, the Earth's shadow only covers part of the lunar disk; so one doesn't get the "blood moon" effect one sees during total lunar eclipses.

The moon will not turn red during Tuesday's eclipse; rather, a chunk of the moon will gradually begin to appear darker starting at 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT) until maximum eclipse at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT), after which the moon will begin to exit Earth's shadow. The last penumbral phase of the eclipse ends at 8:17 p.m. EDT (0017 GMT on July 17).

More:
https://www.space.com/37341-july-full-moon.html

[progree]

1. Sadly, U.S. observers won't see the eclipse

Observers in the U.S. won't see the eclipse — the moon doesn't rise in New York City until 8:29 p.m. local time, according to timeanddate.com. Moonrise times are similar as one moves south; in Miami, it rises at 8:17 p.m. local time. Farther west, the eclipse happens well before moonrise as well. (If you can't see the eclipse in person, check back with Space.com on the day of the eclipse for live webcasts.)

But if you haven't noticed Jupiter before, it is and has been very bright in the southern night sky, visible after sunset and setting around 3 a.m. And will be a spectacle for a few months.

(Jupiter is magnitude -2.5 which is brighter than the brightest star in the sky, Sirius (not visible this time of the year) ). Magnitudes and brightnesses refer to as-viewed from earth.

Jupiter is a little bit east of Antares -- which looks like a rapidly blinking red star (it is a humongously huge super red giant far far away -- 550 light years .... another source says 620 light years ). In comparison, the closest star, Alpha Centauri, is a mere 4.4 light years away.

Saturn is to the east of Jupiter also in the southern sky -- rising in the southeast at sunset, and shining all night. Tonight, it will be VERY close to the virtually full moon. (Looks like I won't see that -- it is overcast here in Minneapolis).

https://in-the-sky.org/skymap2.php
In the "Display" box on the left side click on that "Deep sky" checkbox to clear it to get rid of all that crappy clutter

[nitpicker]

2. Lunar eclipse 2019: from Australia to UK, stargazers enjoy bright side of the moon

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/17/lunar-eclipse-2019-from-australia-to-the-uk-stargazers-enjoy-bright-side-of-the-moo

Stargazers around the world have enjoyed a view of a global lunar eclipse, delighting people from Dehli to Dublin.

The partial eclipse was visible in nearly every part of the world except for North America and the polar climes of Greenland and northern Russia.

In Australia and Asia, the eclipse was visible in the early hours of Wednesday morning and, in Europe, it was visible on Tuesday evening as the sun went down.

In Sydney a local cameraman captured the eclipse as it hung above Sydney Harbour at dawn.
(snip)
((some pics with the article))