This eclipse is a shortest one occurring this century, with the moon completely in Earth's shadow for less that 15 minutes. The image below from Sky & Telescope shows why the eclipse is so short. The moon will skirt along the edge of the Earth's shadow. Because of this, the northern portion of the moon may appear brighter than the southern portion, which is deeper into the Earth's shadow.
The partial eclipse begins over Arizona at 3:15 AM (which is 10:15 UT or Universal Time shown the image above). The total eclipse starts at 4:54 AM and ends at 5:06 AM. Then the partial eclipse continues until 6:45 AM. However, the moon will set over Arizona at 6:15 AM, before the eclipse is finished.
| Moonrise | 6:18 PM (Friday) |
| Partial Eclipse Begins | 3:15 AM |
| Total Eclipse Begins | 4:54 AM |
| Total Eclipse Ends | 5:06 AM |
| Moonset | 6:15 AM |
| Partial Eclipse Ends | 6:45 AM |
Some websites may show shorter times for the total eclipse because the definition the 'umbra' or deepest part of the Earth's shadow may vary. According to Sky & Telescope "the U.S. Naval Observatory's calculations (used by Sky & Telescope) yield a duration of 12.3 minutes, while Fred Espenak's Fifty-Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses says 8.6 minutes." EarthSky.org shows the total eclipse time to be around 5 minutes.
The image below from EarthSky.org shows where the partial and total eclipse will be visible. Arizona is in the path of the total eclipse phase, but the east coast will miss out on this view in the sky.
This total lunar eclipse comes just over two weeks after a total solar eclipse on March 20. It is rare for these two events to happen so close together. According to Sky and Telescope this last happened in 2003, and the next will be in 2033.
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