Skywatchers admiring November’s phase of the moon also will get to determine another treat: a penumbral eclipse, when the Moon passes through Earth’s outer shadow, on Monday, November 30, in line with NASA.
The Moon is at its fullest for less than a flash — on Monday, that happens at 4:30 am EST (9:30 UTC) — but the Moon will appear full for 3 days: from Saturday night through Tuesday morning (November 28 to December 1).
Meanwhile, sky gazers have to remember thrice to catch the penumbral eclipse: It starts before the total moon at 2:32 am EST (7:32 UTC); reaches its maximum at 4:42 am EST (9:42 UTC) when 83 percent of the Moon are covered with Earth’s faint shadow; and ends at 6:53 a.m. EST (11:53 UTC) Monday morning, consistent with timeanddate.com.
Penumbral eclipses are different from total or partial eclipses. During a complete eclipse, Earth passes directly between the sun and moon, blocking the sun’s light from reaching our natural satellite.
In contrast, during an eclipse, the Moon passes through a part of Earth’s inner dark shadow, referred to as the umbra.
Finally, in an exceedingly penumbral eclipse, the Moon passes through a part of Earth’s outer, fainter penumbral shadow, consistent with Space.com, a Live Science sister site.
Unless you are a seasoned skywatcher, it should be challenging to determine November’s penumbral eclipse, which is able to be visible in North America (as long as there aren’t cloudy skies), because the penumbral shadow will appear as a dim veil.
“The dimming of the moon during this eclipse will probably not be noticeable without instrumentation, except for spacecraft at the moon like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the reduction in alternative energy are going to be noticeable,” NASA wrote in an exceeding statement.
November’s phase of the moon, known to several because the beaver moon, comes late within the month this year because October had two full moons; the second moon, years, was the primary time in 76 years that a phase of the moon was visible across the US on Halloween.
Other names for November’s full-of-the-moon include the cold moon, frost moon, winter moon, oak moon, moon before Yule, and child moon.
The full moon will be celebrated during Kartik Purnima (a Hindu, Sikh, and Jain cultural festival, celebrated differently by each culture), Karthika Deepam (a festival of lights observed by some Hindus), Tazaungdaing Festival Moon (observed by Buddhists in Myanmar, formerly Burma), and Ill Poya (celebrated in Sri Lanka), NASA reported.
The beaver moon is that the last phase of the moon before the solstice, the shortest day of sunlight within the hemisphere, which falls on December 21 this year.
Other celestial sightings to appear in late November and early December include “Jupiter and Saturn, [which] will appear to gradually shift closer to every other, appearing nearer than the apparent diameter of the Moon from December 17 to 25,” NASA reported.
“They will appear at their closest, about one-fifth the diameter of the Moon, on December 21, 2020.”
People with backyard telescopes should be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, and even Saturn’s brightly illuminated rings and Titan, its largest moon.
“Seeing Jupiter and Saturn so near one another should appear spectacular by telescope and with the optic,” NASA said.
To people who miss November’s moon, they’ll always decide to see the last full phase of the moon of 2020, which can illumine the night sky at 10:28 pm EST on December 29 (3:28 UTC on December 30).