HOUSTON – Late Sunday night, people had the opportunity to witness a total lunar eclipse. Eyes were focused on the sky to witness the rare event.
KPRC 2 meteorologists shared a quick breakdown of the timeline of events.
9:28 p.m. - Partial eclipse begins
10:29 p.m. - Total eclipse begins
11:12 p.m. - Maximum eclipse
11:54 p.m. - Total eclipse ends
12:56 p.m. - partial eclipse ends
Totality:
A total eclipse occurs when the full moon enters the Earth’s umbra. Umbra is Latin for shadow. This is the innermost and darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, where light from the sun is completely blocked. This is the point the moon turns a blood red. It will be visible in all of North America. Totality lasts 85 minutes.
The reason the moon changes to a reddish color is because of the Earth’s atmosphere. What we normally see is the white/gray face of moon illuminated by sunlight. But during an eclipse, as the moon enters the Earth’s shadow the only colors refracting onto the surface of the moon are red and orange. If you are on the surface of the moon during an eclipse looking at the Earth, you are seeing every sunrise and sunset at the same time. I think this is really cool!
The forecast is for partly cloudy skies Sunday night. If you get any excellent pictures, please share them with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, tagging @kprc2anthony.
This is a picture I took of the November 19, 2021, total lunar eclipse at KPRC 2. This is a good example how to our naked eye the red color of the moon is breathtaking. But our mobile phones do not capture this event well. While not needed, binoculars and telescopes enhance the view of the moon.
My all time favorite Lunar Eclipse photo was taken by professional photographer Mike Mezeul. There isn’t a much more Texas moon picture than this.
This full moon this month is called the Flower Moon. Our last total lunar eclipse was the Flower Moon in May of 2021. Here is a fun video we put together at NBC.
And if you miss this one, the next total lunar eclipse is Nov. 8, 2022 and it will be much earlier, occurring at 5:59 a.m. Sunrise that day is 6:41 a.m.
