‘The cosmic ballet goes on.’
A total eclipse of the Moon will be taking place over Ireland later this week, but you will have to be up early to witness the celestial event.
Caused when the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow, the lunar eclipse will begin at 5.09am on Friday, 14 March.
In a statement, Astronomy Ireland said that at this time, the first “bite” will appear to be taken out of the Moon as it slowly slips into the Earth’s shadow – taking 76 minutes to do so.
By 6.26am, the Moon will be totally eclipsed.
However, Astronomy Ireland magazine editor David Moore adds: “The totally eclipsed Moon will be low in the West as seen from Ireland by then and the Sun will be close to rising.
“So, the normal ‘blood moon’ effect will not be as obvious as an eclipse that occurs high in a dark sky.”
Despite this, Moore encouraged those interested in the celestial event to seek it out.
The moon partly covered in the Earth’s shadow during a phase of the lunar eclipse on 20 February 2008 in Miami, Florida
“This should not [put] people off watching as the early stages from 5am will be quite spectacular to the naked eye and will be high enough to see in a dark sky,” he explained.
“You may even see some of the ‘blood red’ effect on the eclipsed side of the Moon long before it is totally eclipsed and the morning twilight has brightened the sky.
“Those in the West will get a slightly better view than those on the East coast.”
This is the first of two eclipses visible from Ireland this month.
The second is a deep partial eclipse of the Sun on 29 March.
Astronomy Ireland magazine intends to publish sightings of the lunar eclipse from Ireland.
As such, it is encouraging people who take photos of the event to send them to the publication via the contact section on its website right here.
