August 2008 lunar eclipse - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A partial lunar eclipse
Lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a...

took place on August 16, 2008, the second of two lunar eclipses in 2008, with the first being a total eclipse on February 20, 2008

February 2008 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse occurred on the evening of Wednesday, February 20, and morning of Thursday, February 21, 2008. It was visible in the eastern evening sky on February 20 for all of North and South America, and on February 21 in the predawn western sky from most of Africa and Europe.The total...

. The next lunar eclipse was a penumbral eclipse occurring on February 9, 2009

February 2009 lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on February 9, 2009, the first of four lunar eclipses in 2009, and being the deepest of three penumbral eclipses.-Visibility:...

, while the next total lunar eclipse will occur on December 21, 2010

December 2010 lunar eclipse

The December 2010 lunar eclipse occurred from 5:27 to 11:06 UTC on December 21, coinciding with the date of the December solstice. It was visible in its entirety as a total lunar eclipse in North and South America, Iceland, Ireland, Britain and northern Scandinavia.-Occurrence:The eclipse of...

Viewing

Parts of Australia saw it begin before sunrise, while parts of South America saw it end just after sunset.

The penumbral eclipse began at 18:23 UTC

Coordinated Universal Time

Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...

, with the partial eclipse beginning at 19:36. The time of greatest eclipse was 21:10. The partial eclipse ended at 22:44, and the penumbral eclipse will ended at 23:57.

The planet Neptune

Neptune

Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...

was be 2 days past opposition

Opposition (astronomy)

In positional astronomy, two celestial bodies are said to be in opposition when they are on opposite sides of the sky, viewed from a given place . In particular, two planets are in opposition to each other when their ecliptic longitudes differ by 180°.The astronomical symbol for opposition is ☍...

, visible in binoculars

Binoculars

Binoculars, field glasses or binocular telescopes are a pair of identical or mirror-symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point accurately in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes when viewing distant objects...

as an 8th magnitude

Apparent magnitude

The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...

"star" just two degrees west and slightly south of the moon.

External links

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Viewing

See also

External links