THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
University of Southern Maine
96 Falmouth Street
Portland, Maine 04106

THE SOUTHWORTH ASTRONOMER
Sunday, March 24, 2024
What About the Lunar Eclipse?

If astronomers were more poetical than analytical, they might shyly ask,
"If a solar eclipse has arrived, could a lunar eclipse be far behind?"   Of
course, the problem with that phrasing is that a lunar eclipse could just
as easily precede an eclipse as follow one.    The important point is that
these eclipses do occur in pairs.     To understand why these two eclipses
occur in pairs, we first look at *nodes*, the intersection points
connecting Earth's orbital plane, or *ecliptic*, and the moon's orbit,
which is inclined five degrees relative to the former.

[image: Lunar_eclipse_diagram-en.svg.png]
The two orbits intersect at two points, the *descending node, *which the
moon crosses as it descends south of the ecliptic and the *ascending
node, *which
the moon crosses as it ascends north of the ecliptic.     The above graphic
shows the two not-to-scale orbits and assumes that the Universe revolves
around the type of Earth the gods would have produced had they been more
into fungi ingestion.

Notice that the nodes are separated by 180 degrees.    The lunar
conjunction point,or new moon is likewise 180 degrees away from the
opposition point, or full moon.   Both a solar and a lunar eclipse can only
occur when the moon is at or near a node.  Consequently, when the new moon
is around a node during one orbit, the full moon will also be at or near
the other node.    However, the nodes will generally shift enough to
prevent the occurrence of an eclipse trio -solar-lunar-solar or
lunar-solar-lunar.*

While humanity has lavishly showered a corrupt cult leader's amount of
attention onto the April 8th eclipse, the preceding lunar eclipse, which,
incidentally, happens tonight, has been, well, relegated to the shadows
with nary a word in its favour.

*Wait!!   There is a lunar eclipse tonight and you are just NOW mentioning
it?!  *

Well, actually, yes, we're giving you very little notice because, honestly,
there is very little to see.  Tonight's event will be a *penumbral lunar
eclipse*, in which the full moon glides Quetzalcoatlus-like through the
outer part of Earth's shadow. Consequently, the moon's brilliant facade
will be slightly, but not immeasurably, darkened by Earth's penumbra. Think
of it this way: if a blood-red total lunar eclipse is the empurpling of a
furious man's countenance reacting to the annihilation of his home planet,
a penumbral eclipse is the fleeting shadowing of a man's face who learns
that Barbie and Ken have transmuted into penpals.

It's just blah!
However, as we are proud carriers of the Kepleran torch, we'll go through
the elliptical motions.

Time-table for Portland

*Eclipse begins at 12:53 a.m.  Mon, March 25th*
You'll notice absolutely nothing.

*Maximum eclipse at 3:12 a.m. *
More than 93% of the Moon will be immersed in Earth's penumbra.     You'll
likely notice nothing at all unless you're one of those bionic individuals
whose eyes have been endowed with  time exposure capability

*Eclipse ends at 5:32 a.m.*
And you'll wonder where the night went.

Coincidentally, nautical twilight will begin precisely at 5:32 a.m. as well
tomorrow morning.

If you decide to wander wraith-like through the night world this evening,
your senses will likely be bewitched by the glittering coruscations of
moonlight along the ice-coated tree branches.    The penumbral lunar
eclipse, however, will scarcely raise an eyebrow.

15 DAYS UNTIL THE APRIL 8TH ECLIPSE!

*Oh, if you ever find yourself muddling about the infinite kingdoms of
astronomy or mathematics, be exceedingly careful when you attempt to make
sweeping statements about anything.       For instance, you're standing on
some corner platform and, to the astonishment of your rapt audience member,
you proclaim  "According to the theoretical astrophysicists, no stable star
can ever be more than 200 times as massive as the Sun."     Ha ha!
Tucked away in the 30 Doradus Nebula within the Large Magellanic Cloud is
Bat99-98, which weighs in at the mat-bending weight of 228 solar masses.
  Similarly, the statement that you generally can't have eclipse trios
implies that once in a while an eclipse trio will happen.        Indeed,
eclipse God Fred Espenak determined that three eclipses will occur within
one month six times during the time period 1801-2300.  However, two of
these eclipses will be partials.   Example:    July 1, 2000 - Partial solar
eclipse; July 16, 2000 - Total lunar eclipse; July 31, 2000 - Partial solar
eclipse.