Watch Live Online: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Occurs Wednesday

In the early morning hours Wednesday, November 28, stargazers will be able to watch the penumbral lunar eclipse live online as the moon briefly dips into Earth’s shadow.

According to Space.com, during the penumbral lunar eclipse, observers will be able to watch live as the November full moon passes into the dim outer edge of the earth’s shadow, or penumbra, where light from the sun will only partially be blocked. This will give observers the view of a subtle shadow spreading over the moon’s surface.

The lunar eclipse will start at 7:15 am EST as the moon begins to breach the outer edges of Earth’s shadow, with the event’s peak to occur at 9:30 am EST.

The webcast of the spectacle will start at 9:15 am EST, about half an hour before the moon will reach its fullest phase of the month. The actual penumbral lunar eclipse will be viewable for those with no cloud cover in East Asia, Australia, Hawaii, and Alaska.

Those who either don’t live in these prime viewing areas or have overcast skies have two different ways to watch the penumbral eclipse live online. Online users can access the broadcasts on either Space.com’s site, or the direct site for the Slooh Space Camera.

The webcast to watch the lunar eclipse live online will last for 30 minutes and will likely be broadcast from either New Zealand or Hawaii, depending on which of Slooh’s observatories has the best view of the celestial event.

Mashable notes that Wednesday’s event won’t be nearly as dramatic as a full lunar eclipse, in which the Earth’s shadow completely blots out the glow of the moon, but despite this, it will still be worth watching.

The resulting color change will be faint, but should still be viewable to the naked eye, especially the farther west the observer goes in the United States. The resulting color change will be faint, so it will most likely only be detectable to observers once more than half of the moon has passed into the penumbra.

The penumbral lunar eclipse will reach its peak around 9:30 am EST with about 92 percent of the moon’s diameter covered by the penumbra. The event will peak after the moon has set on the East Coast, meaning that observers there will need to watch the eclipse online.