Monday, September 16, 2024 Canada is about to experience its third eclipse of 2024 during the Sept. 17 full moon actually two eclipses in one. Called the Harvest Moon in many traditions, it’s also a rare fourth moon of this summer season, it’s a supermoon, and there’s also a penumbral and partial lunar eclipse happening.
Viewers of the night sky, however, might have a hard time noticing either of them. That’s because it’s a partial lunar eclipse with emphasis on “partial.” The eclipse is caused by the moon going into the main part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra.
The rest of the moon will still also be in shadow, but in a secondary shadow cast by the Earth called the penumbra. And a penumbral part of an eclipse can sometimes be hard to see because it’s so faint. There was a full penumbral eclipse for the full moon back in March, which foreshadowed the much, much more anticipated spectacular solar eclipse that followed on April 8.
And that’s the way it works: solar eclipses and lunar eclipses always come in pairs (and sometimes threes). So to sum it up, this Tuesday night, a hardly noticeable edge of the moon may be in Earth’s umbral shadow and therefore shadowed out. The rest of the moon, to quote Lawler, will be inside the outer part of Earth’s shadow (the penumbra) which means that all of the light from the sun that’s hitting it has kind of filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, explained Lawler.
It might look a little strange. In her experienc.