Full & Last Lunar Eclipse Of 2010 On December 21st

A total and last eclipse of the Moon occurs during the early morning hours of December 21, 2010 (for observers in western North America and Hawaii, the eclipse actually begins on the evening of December 20).

TLEDec2010_Sharpshutter

You can fully view the total lunar eclipse from North America, Greenland and Iceland. The beginning stages of the eclipse is visible in Western Europe and the later stages after moonrise is visible in Western Asia.

Total Lunar Eclipse Timings

According to NASA “The Moon’s orbital trajectory takes it through the northern half of Earth’s umbral shadow. Although the eclipse is not central, the total phase still lasts 72 minutes”.

The timings of the major eclipse phases are listed below.

Penumbral Eclipse Begins   05:29:17 UT
Partial Eclipse Begins          06:32:37 UT
Total Eclipse Begins            07:40:47 UT
Greatest Eclipse                  08:16:57 UT
Total Eclipse Ends               08:53:08 UT
Partial Eclipse Ends             10:01:20 UT
Penumbral Eclipse Ends      11:04:31 UT

The timings of the major eclipse phases are listed below.

 

Total Lunar Eclipse of December 21, 2010

 

Europe

North America

Pacific

Event

GMT

AST

EST

CST

MST

PST

AKST

HST

Partial Eclipse Begins:

06:33 am

02:33 am

01:33 am

12:33 am

11:33 pm*

10:33 pm*

09:33 pm*

08:33 pm*

Total Eclipse Begins:

07:41 am

03:41 am

02:41 am

01:41 am

12:41 am

11:41 pm*

10:41 pm*

09:41 pm*

Mid-Eclipse:

08:17 am

04:17 am

03:17 am

02:17 am

01:17 am

12:17 am

11:17 pm*

10:17 pm*

Total Eclipse Ends:

08:53 am

04:53 am

03:53 am

02:53 am

01:53 am

12:53 am

11:53 pm*

10:53 pm*

Partial Eclipse Ends:

10:01 am

06:01 am

05:01 am

04:01 am

03:01 am

02:01 am

01:01 am

12:01 am

Note: * Event occurs on evening of December 20, 2010

In India the Total Lunar Eclipse will take place between 13:10:47 and 14:23:08 on December 21st 2010.

Animation Of Total Lunar Eclipse

ShadowsAndSubstance website has a beautiful flash animation of December 21 2010 Total Lunar Eclipse and you can view it here

Image Credit : flickr/stargazer95050

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