January 2018 lunar eclipse Facts for Kids

January 2018 lunar eclipse, view from California

A total lunar eclipse took place on January 31, 2018. The moon appears as supermoon, with perigee (the closest distance to Earth) being on January 30. Also it is the first blue moon eclipse in 2018, so it was referred to as the super blue blood moon.

Background
Overview
- Visibility
  - Appearance from the United States
- Timing
Photo Gallery
Images for kids
See also

Background

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, Earth's shadow first darkens the Moon slightly. Then, the shadow begins to "cover" part of the Moon, turning it a dark red-brown color (typically – the color can vary based on atmospheric conditions). The Moon appeared to be reddish because of Rayleigh scattering (the same effect that causes sunsets to appear reddish) and the refraction of that light by Earth's atmosphere into its umbra.

Overview

Visibility

The Pacific Ocean was turned toward the moon at the time of the eclipse. Central and eastern Asia (including most of Siberia), Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand and most of Australia got a fine view of this moon show in the evening sky. Heading farther west into western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the eclipse was already underway as the moon rised.

Appearance from the United States

Along the U.S. West Coast, the total phase began at 4:51 a.m. PST. The further east, the closer the start of the partial phases concluded with moonset. The duration of the total phase was 77 minutes, with the moon tracking through the southern part of the Earth's shadow. So, during totality, the moon's lower limb appeared much brighter than the dark upper limb.

View of earth from moon during greatest eclipse	Visibility map

Timing

Event timing by timezone
Eclipse	HST	AKST	PST	MST	CST	EST	UTC	MSK	IST	ICT	CST	JST	AEDT	NZDT
Zone from UTC	−10 h	−9 h	−8 h	−7 h	−6 h	−5 h	0 h	+3 h	+5½ h	+7 h	+8 h	+9 h	+11 h	+13 h
Penumbral eclipse begins	00:51	01:51	02:51	03:51	04:51	05:51	10:51	13:51	—	17:51	18:51	19:51	21:51	23:51
Partial eclipse begins	01:48	02:48	03:48	04:48	05:48	06:48	11:48	14:48	17:18	18:48	19:48	20:48	22:48	00:48
Total eclipse begins	02:52	03:52	04:52	05:52	06:52	—	12:52	15:52	18:22	19:52	20:52	21:52	23:52	01:52
Mid-eclipse	03:30	04:30	05:30	06:30	—	—	13:30	16:30	19:00	20:30	21:30	22:30	00:30	02:30
Total eclipse ends	04:08	05:08	06:08	07:08	—	—	14:08	17:08	19:38	21:08	22:08	23:08	01:08	03:08
Partial eclipse ends	05:11	06:11	07:11	—	—	—	15:11	18:11	20:41	22:11	23:11	00:11	02:11	04:11
Penumbral eclipse ends	06:08	07:08	—	—	—	—	16:08	19:08	21:38	23:08	00:08	01:08	03:08	05:08

Photo Gallery

Total or near total

Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Kerala, India
Kerala, India
Victoria, Australia, 12:44am AEST
Chiang Mai, Thailand 19:56 ICT, 2 views, as the camera registered it and how spectators saw it.
Victoria, Australia 11:48pm AEST
Victoria, Australia, 01:14am AEST