Lunar Eclipse Tonight: What Time To Watch In Central Minnesota

(KNSI) – Stargazers across central Minnesota should get a good look at a partial lunar eclipse tonight, and astronomer Bob Berman says they won’t need anything more than their eyes.

Berman, a longtime contributor to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, a former editor at Discover magazine, and a veteran leader of eclipse-viewing tours, spoke with KNSI Thursday morning about what viewers can expect. “And this is a happy event where you don’t need a telescope. In fact, it looks better without a telescope.”

Binoculars are fine, Berman says, but anything stronger works against the viewer. Earth’s shadow has a soft, fuzzy edge, and the more you magnify it, the more obvious that fuzziness becomes. To the naked eye, the edge looks sharp and clean.

The shadow should start creeping across the moon around 9:33 p.m., with the eclipse hitting its maximum at about 11:12 p.m. Berman says roughly 96% of the moon will be covered at that point.

At maximum, sunlight bending through Earth’s atmosphere (essentially every sunrise and sunset on the planet at once) will spill onto the darkened part of the moon and tint it red. The remaining 4% will still be in direct sunlight, leaving a bright curved sliver along the edge. “So it’s going to look a little like the planet Mars, reddish, with like white polar caps in that case,” said Berman.

He says lunar eclipses are the friendlier of the two kinds. A total solar eclipse carves a path only 120 to 140 miles wide and lasts a few minutes, while a lunar eclipse is visible to anyone with the moon overhead, roughly half the planet at any given time. They also come around every year or two.

Forecasters are calling for clear skies over the area tonight.

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