Here are the remarkable photos of the partial lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021 – Numerama

The very first photos of the partial lunar eclipse on Friday, November 19, 2021 are starting to be published online. The Moon appears splendid there, almost entirely submerged in the shadow of the Earth.

Longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years takes place this Friday, November 19, 2021. With a total duration of 6 hours and 2 minutes, from the entrance of the moon in the terrestrial half-light (7:02 a.m., Paris time) at its exit (1:03 p.m.), the eclipse is observable over North and South America, Australia, and parts of Europe and Asia. Unfortunately, France could only see the entry into the twilight, which is not very interesting.

Fortunately, several videos allow you to follow the event online and live. Photographs of the eclipse are also gradually being distributed, allowing everyone to enjoy them. Lunar eclipses are rare phenomena, which do not occur every month. To see them, you have to be on the side of the Earth where it is dark when the eclipse occurs.

In the following image, taken from the city of Alexandria in the state of Virginia (United States), we can admire the Moon almost entirely eclipsed, taking a reddish color characteristic of this type of event.

Same thing on this shot, immortalized from New Zealand and shared on twitter.

tonight’s eclipse shot from my backyard! pic.twitter.com/7aLcLZ7FHN

– Kaleb (@KalebsCode) November 19, 2021

Why does the Moon turn red during an eclipse?

The Earth sits between the Sun and the Moon during a lunar eclipse, whether total or partial. Our planet therefore projects its shadow on the natural satellite. Nevertheless, the eclipsed part of the Moon continues to receive light, previously passed through the Earth’s atmosphere. However, the Earth’s atmosphere filters certain wavelengths, allowing only red to pass through. And the Moon reflects back to Earth the light of the Sun, passed by the Earth’s atmosphere. This is why the Moon appears reddening to us, at the most of a lunar eclipse.

The eclipse of November 19 is partial, but we can see in these images that it was not far from total: only 3% of the lunar disk are not illuminated by the Sun, at the maximum of the eclipse which occurred at 10:02 a.m.

Why does the lunar eclipse last so long?

This is the longest duration for a partial lunar eclipse in the 21st century. We have to go back to February 18, 1440 to find such a long partial lunar eclipse. And the next time it happens again, it will be February 8, 2669. This unusual duration is linked to the fact that the eclipse occurs just before the apogee of the Moon, that is to say the moment when the he star is the furthest from our planet.

The continuation in video