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A Partial Lunar Eclipse of the Harvest Moon Supermoon is Coming. Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Vaseline September 11, 2024

On Tuesday, September 17, there is a full moon: the harvest full moon.

The Harvest Moon is not just a September event because the full moon that falls closest to the autumnal equinox is given this nickname. Every few years, October (instead of September) is the location of this moon that was once crucial to farmers. Before electricity and tractors with lights were used to harvest crops all night, farmers relied on the light of the harvest moon to extend their workdays when the fields were most abundant.

This upcoming full moon will also be the last before an annular solar eclipse on October 2. And this full moon will also feature a lunar eclipse — however small — that can be seen as a precursor to the main event two weeks later.

Start of eclipse season

The two eclipses are of course related. A solar eclipse can only occur when the moon is at a node in its orbit. (The nodes are the two points where the moon’s path in the sky crosses the sun’s path, the ecliptic.) During the solar eclipse, the moon will cross the ecliptic from north to south. But half an orbit earlier, at full moon, it will pass the opposite node from south to northwhere he encountered the shadow of the earth along the way.

All of this is a great example of how an “eclipse season” works. An eclipse season is when the sun (from our perspective here on Earth) is close enough to one of the lunar nodes for an eclipse to occur. During the season, which lasts a little over a month, there will be a lunar eclipse every time there is a full moon, and a solar eclipse every time there is a new moon.

This will be much like the lunar eclipse that occurred in March, except that the moon will not pass as far from the center of the Earth’s shadow and will manage to give the dark umbra of the Earth a glancing blow. In fact, the umbra penetrates at its maximum to about 1/12 of the diameter of the moon. In contrast to the faint gray penumbra, the umbra is much darker and quite sharply defined.

Visibility area

The visible region for this lunar eclipse will cover much of North America (except Alaska and Hawaii) and all of South America (where, as seen from Sao Luis, Brazil, the moon will be directly overhead at maximum eclipse). For those along and near the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California, the moon will rise on the evening of September 17, already in partial eclipse.

In contrast, the Moon will descend and set in the western sky over much of Europe and Africa during the early morning hours of September 18, with the last remnants of the shadow still visible on the western edge of the Moon for Finland, Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Just a small eclipse

At maximum eclipse (Sept. 18, 2:44 UTC), the umbral penetration will be just 8.7%, meaning that only the upper edge of the Moon will be immersed in Earth’s dark umbral shadow. For those able to view this eclipse, it will probably be most interesting to see with binoculars or a telescope when the umbra touches the northern edge of the dark, lava-filled lunar crater Plato around the time of greatest eclipse.

The entrance or exit of the penumbra is not visible. About 70% of the Moon’s diameter must penetrate the faint penumbra to become visible to most as a light shadow or patchiness, about half an hour before first contact with the umbra (the upper left portion of the Moon) and about half an hour after last contact with the umbra (the upper right portion of the Moon).

With or without a telescope, the smooth curvature of the dark shadow on the lunar disk will remind us that our Earth is round, as it was a divine revelation to the ancient Greeks.

Below is a timeline for the eclipse. Dashes indicate that the event in question is not visible because the moon is below the horizon. An asterisk indicates that the calendar date is September 18th.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Schedule for the Partial Lunar Eclipse of the Full Harvest Moon on September 17
Event	EDT	CDT	MDT	MDT
Moon enters penumbra	8:40 pm	7:40 pm	—	—
A shadow appears	21:44 hours	20:44 hours	7:44 PM	—
Moon enters Umbra	22:12 hours	21:12 hours	20:12 hours	—
Greatest solar eclipse	22:44 hours	21:44 hours	20:44 hours	7:44 PM
Moon leaves Umbra	23:16 hours	22:16 hours	21:16 hours	20:16 hours
Shadow disappears	23:43 hours	22:43 hours	21:43 hours	20:43 hours
Moon leaves penumbra	00:47 hours*	23:47 hours	22:47 hours	21:47 hours

Upcoming attractions

In 2025, the Moon will experience two total eclipses. The first will favor North America and will be visible during the nighttime hours of March 13-14. Totality will last 65 minutes. A second total solar eclipse will occur on September 7thbut there will be no visibility from America. That late summer event will play out in the night sky over Europe, Africa and Asia, with a total phase lasting 82 minutes.

The moon looks incredible through a telescope or binoculars. If you want to get a closer look at the moon’s many features during lunar eclipses or at any other time, be sure to read our guides on the best telescopes and the best binoculars.

And if you want to take photos of the moon yourself, we have tips for photographing the moon, as well as guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.

Don’t miss our night sky page tonight and our monthly stargazing calendar for even more celestial events!

Joe Rao is a lecturer and visiting professor at New York’s Hayden PlanetariumHe writes about astronomy for Natural History magazinethe Farmers’ Almanac and other publications.

Editor’s Note: If you captured a great photo of the moon during September’s partial lunar eclipse and would like to share it with Space.com readers, please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected].

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A Partial Lunar Eclipse of the Harvest Moon Supermoon is Coming. Here’s Everything You Need to Know

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A Partial Lunar Eclipse of the Harvest Moon Supermoon is Coming. Here’s Everything You Need to Know

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