July Full Moon 2019: 'Thunder Moon' Lunar Eclipse Meets Saturn in the Night Sky [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

By Jesse Emspak 6 hours ago

See a partial lunar eclipse (plus Saturn!) on July 16.

July's full moon, nicknamed the Thunder Moon, occurs this week on Tuesday, July 16, at 5:38 p.m. EDT (2138 GMT), 50 years to the day of NASA's Apollo 11 moon mission launch!

About 7 minutes before the full moon's peak, the moon will start to dip into Earth's shadow, kicking off the last lunar eclipse of the year. Meanwhile, Saturn will be making a close approach to the moon in the night sky.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and passes through the shadow of the Earth. This doesn't happen every time the moon is full, because the orbit of the moon is slightly askew from the plane of the Earth's orbit, and the moon usually "misses" the Earth's shadow. During a partial lunar eclipse, the Earth's shadow only covers part of the lunar disk; so one doesn't get the "blood moon" effect one sees during total lunar eclipses.

The moon will not turn red during Tuesday's eclipse; rather, a chunk of the moon will gradually begin to appear darker starting at 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT) until maximum eclipse at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT), after which the moon will begin to exit Earth's shadow. The last penumbral phase of the eclipse ends at 8:17 p.m. EDT (0017 GMT on July 17).

More:
https://www.space.com/37341-july-full-moon.html