Penumbral eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon, Sun and Earth align in an almost straight line.
When this occurs, the Earth blocks some of the Sun's light from directly reaching the Moon's surface, and covers a part of the Moon with the outer part of its shadow, which is also known as the penumbra.
The rest of the Moon receives the same amount of sunlight as usual and is as bright as a full Moon.
And that is why it is often hard to differentiate between a normal full Moon and a penumbral eclipse of the Moon.
 
 
Two celestial events must happen at the same time for a penumbral lunar eclipse to occur:

• the Moon should be a full Moon, and
• the Sun, Earth and Moon must be imperfectly aligned in a straight line.

If you would like to watch the next penumbral eclipse save the following dates!

Upcoming - next penumbral eclipse dates are :    

• 10 Feb / 11 Feb 2017    
• 10 Jan / 11 Jan 2020    
• 5 Jun / 6 Jun 2020    
• 4 Jul / 5 Jul 2020