Some sky watchers may have seen more than just fireworks in the night sky during their July 4 celebrations on Saturday – the full moon.
During Saturday and Sunday night (July 4-5), the entire July “Luna Buck” plunged through the outer edges into a penumbral lunar eclipse. While the lunar eclipse was subtle and difficult to see, an eclipse expert said it would be “invisible”, the full moon was still a spectacular sight for sky watchers around the world.
This weekend’s eclipse was the third of four penumbral lunar eclipses in lunar eclipses. During a lunar eclipse, Earth comes between the moon and the sun, and all three align exactly (or almost exactly). Due to this alignment, the Earth casts a shadow on the face of the moon.
Related: Lunar eclipse 2020 guide: when, where and how to see them
In a total lunar eclipse, the moon is complete in Earth’s shadow and can take on a blood red hue. But during a twilight lunar eclipse, only Earth’s diffuse outer shadow, known as twilight, falls on the face of the moon. This means that the darkening effect is very slight.
You can see just how imperceptible the effect was in the July lunar eclipse in the July Full Moon photos below.
It’s so nice that everyone decided to celebrate the lunar eclipse and the full moon with fireworks tonight pic.twitter.com/NheWtBGE2eJuly 5, 2020
The July full moon and the lunar eclipse, also known as Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, or Hay Moon through my telescope last night. pic.twitter.com/Om3hE6FIYS July 5, 2020
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. I’m still waiting for the peak to come pic.twitter.com/VvgJHksNEqJuly 5, 2020
Some highlights of tonight. The moon during the eclipse; 🪐, jupiter and the moon (in that order) and two additional shots b / c I liked the effect. # LunarEclipse pic.twitter.com/z9nCdgVlPeJuly 5, 2020
An amazing photo of tonight’s #LunarEclipse #NoFilter pic.twitter.com/B0cBKuN5MF July 5, 2020
All lunar eclipses occur when the moon is full. Interestingly, during eclipses (but also during each new and full moon), the gravitational forces on Earth are particularly strong due to the influence of the sun when it aligns with the moon and our planet. That makes our planet’s oceans bulge and makes high tides higher and low tides lower.
happy full moon lunar eclipse day, i took this through our telescope pic.twitter.com/0gaaCYUSb1 July 5, 2020
1229 in the GTA and you can’t see the difference … # LunarEclipse # SamsungGalaxy20Ultra #LunchbagLetdown pic.twitter.com/kddxxzjxLO July 5, 2020
After the fun of this weekend’s fireworks-filled eclipse, the next lunar eclipse, which will also be a penumbral eclipse, will be this fall, November 29-30.
While this weekend’s lunar eclipse was almost imperceptible to many of us, it was theoretically visible to people in southern and western Europe, most of Africa, most of North America, South America , the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean and Antarctic regions. Americans may have even seen the eclipse while looking up to enjoy the fireworks, as the lunar eclipse fell on July 4, which is Independence Day in the country.
The eclipse’s many nicknames come from a variety of sources. The penumbral lunar eclipses that occur in July are nicknamed “Thunder Moon,” which comes from the summer storms that occur around the July full moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
The American Indian tribes have also called this moon the “Buck Moon” because this event also usually coincides with the time that male deer begin to develop new velvet antlers. Some also know it as the “Hay Moon” because it usually comes at a time when farmers store hay in their barns, according to Earthsky.org.
Also, in addition to simply looking up, enjoying the view, and learning more about our rocky satellite, throughout history, many cultures around the world have adopted customs in accordance with lunar eclipses. For example, many have seen lunar eclipses as times or harbingers of danger.
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
