Notice that the northeastern United States is located within the region between U4-P4. This designation indicates that the moon will rise toward the last phase of the eclipse: the time when the moon is leaving the penumbra. The moon will have left the umbra before it even rises from our perspective. In other words, there will be nothing to see, especially considering that the atmospheric obscuration is at a maximum along the horizon.
That having been written, this eclipse is not wholly without interest. Notice that the moon will be moving along the top of the umbra/penumbra during this partial eclipse. This position indicates that it is either toward the end or the beginning of its Saros Cycle. A Saros Cycle consists of a series of eclipses that share the same geometry. Successive eclipses within a given Saros are separated by approximately 18 years and 11 days.
If the Saros cycle begins at the upper part of Earth's shadow, each subsequent eclipse will be progressively lower than the one preceding it. Conversely, if the Saros cycle begins with the moon at the lower part of Earth's shadow, each subsequent eclipse within the cycle will move progressively higher. A Saros cycle begins at the top of the shadow when the moon is at or near the ascending node, the intersection point between Earth's orbit and that of the moon. When at the ascending node, the moon moves 'north' of Earth's orbit after moving through the intersection point. The Saros cycle begins at the bottom of the shadow when the moon is at or near the descending node.
This partial lunar eclipse is the 11th eclipse within Saros Cycle 146. We can therefore conclude that it is within the beginning phases of the cycle. First, Saros cycles generally consist of more than 70 eclipses. Secondly, Saros cycles occurring at the ascending node are assigned even designation numbers. The partial eclipse that we won't see on Saturday is just one of many Saros cycle 146 eclipses that haven't yet happened.
The first Saros 146 lunar eclipse (July 11, 1846) was partially penumbral. The moon's lower limb barely touched the upper part of the penumbra. The second 146 lunar eclipse (July 21, 1861) was slightly lower, but still partially penumbral, as was the next one, which occured on August 2, 1879. The first partial lunar eclipse in the 146 series only happened on October 17, 2005. The eclipse this coming Saturday is the one immediately following that 2005 event in the 146 series. Over the next two centuries, each Saros 146 eclipse will shift farther into the umbra than the one before it. The first total lunar eclipse in Saros 146 won't occur until May 25, 2366! That one will not be visible from New England. The final total lunar eclipse of this series will happen on November 16, 2654. The following Saros 146 eclipses will continue the descent and each one will be less covered by the umbra than the previous eclipses in that sequence. The final partial lunar eclipse happens on June 12, 2997 and the final penumbral on August 29, 3123.
While this Saturday's event won't captivate us visually, we can reflect that we're watching (or, in our case, not watching) an eclipse that is part of a sequence that started the year the Liberty Bell was cracked and won't end for more than a thousand years from now.
Carpe Diem.