The chart below shows the timings and circumstances of the eclipse:
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| Timings and circumstances of the total lunar eclipse of July 27, 2018 |
Timings of the total lunar eclipse for Israel, with local Israel Daylight Times in parenthesis. In other words, the lunar eclipse begins at 9:24PM local time on Friday night, July 27, peak darkness is at 11:22PM on July 27, and ends at 1:19AM the morning of July 28.
2018 July 27
Partial eclipse begins: 18:24 UTC ( 21:24 Israel Daylight Time)
Total eclipse begins: 19:30 UTC (22:30 Israel Daylight Time)
Greatest eclipse: 20:22 UTC (23:22 Israel Daylight Time)
Total eclipse ends: 21:13 UTC (00:13 Israel Daylight Time)
Partial eclipse ends: 22:19 UTC (01:19 Israel Daylight Time)
This is such a long eclipse because as you will note from the chart above, the moon passes almost directly through the very center of the earth's shadow, its widest part, spending the longest time of the 21st century in eclipse! This is also a Micromoon full moon, the opposite of a Supermoon. A Micromoon full moon occurs when the full moon is at apogee, its greatest distance from the earth, so it appears smaller in the sky. Hence it also spends more time in the earth's shadow. Aren't we lucky to be alive on this date and living in Israel for a front row seat!Take some time while watching the eclipse to note the moon's darkness, called its Danjon Number during an eclipse. 0 is darkest, 5 is brightest. When the moon passes centrally through the earth's shadow it's farthest from the edges of the shadow, so less sunlight gets refracted onto its surface during the eclipse. During some very dark eclipses the moon may completely disappear. But this also depends alot on the earth's atmosphere at the time. The denser or cloudier it is around the globe the more sunlight gets refracted onto the moon and the brighter the eclipse. This is hard to predict so it should be fun to look for how dark this eclipse is and estimate its Danjon number. You can find out more about the Danjon Scale here.
All lunar eclipses occur during full moon, when the moon is opposite the sun with the earth in between. July 27th's eclipse falls out on the full moon of the Jewish month of Av, or Tu (meaning 15) B'Av, often referred to as Jewish Valentine's Day, since on this day in ancient times the girls used to dress in their finest and dance in the fields to encourage matches with the boys. A happy time after the fast and mourning of the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av. So, what could be better than going out with your Bestie to enjoy the romance of the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century? I will leave it to the astrologers if this is a good or bad omen, the eclipse of the light of love or its revelation in the darkness of the moon. In any case this should not be one of those famous "blood red" moon eclipses since it is so central in the earth's shadow and little refracted sunlight, which causes the red color, should be evident. In any case be sure to take in all the planets that will be visible during the night, and especially during the darkness of totality. (See our previous post on the summer planets.)
You need no optical aid to the view a lunar eclipse but even small binoculars enhance the view and will show you details on the moon that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
There are many events being held to view the lunar eclipse in Mitzpe Ramon, but since this is a Shabbat night we will not be holding our usual star tour. You can look those events up online if you want to come down here. But a full moon and eclipse is usually so bright that you should be able to watch it from almost anywhere in Israel from the beaches of the Mediterranean to Diezengoff Square.
When I complained to a friend that the longest lunar eclipse of the century was falling on Shabbat and I wouldn't be able to hold a star tour, he told me, "Relax, it's Gd's way of telling you to just enjoy yourself for once." And so I shall. I hope you do,too!
To find out more about this eclipse see here.
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