How to Watch the Total Lunar Eclipse of the Moon on Thursday/Friday March 13th/14th.
Key tricks for catching the Total Lunar Eclipse
1) The eclipse is maximum on the 14th Eastern Time, but faint shadowing starts on the 13th minutes before midnight Eastern Time. So, plan to watch way before sunrise on the 14th, or the middle of the night in the western United States; it’s not visible in TV’s prime time in the evening of the 13th or 14th!
2) It’s visible at the same time simultaneously across the continental United States. The only difference will be the time on your clock. Maximum eclipse is near 3am Eastern Daylight Time and 12 midnight Pacific Daylight Time. See the chart (below) for when the Earth’s shadow starts moving across the Moon, and adjust for your time zone.
3) If you live in the northeastern United States, the eclipse will max out when the Moon is about half-way up in the southwestern sky. To see where that is, check this week about the same time during the afternoon to see where the Sun is. So, where the Sun is in the sky at, say, 3pm, will be about where the Moon will be at 3am on Friday morning during peak eclipse for the east coast. Check to see if trees or buildings might block your view.
4) The Moon won’t disappear entirely. Earth’s atmosphere bends light from the Sun around the Earth to shine on the Moon. Think of it like the light from sunrises and sunsets all along the edge of the Earth visible from our Moon, giving it a reddish glow.
5) That said, it might be initially hard to find the Moon during totality, since we are used to a Full Moon appearing very bright in our skies.
6) No optical aid needed! But, any binoculars will show more details on the Moon and any stars nearby.
7) Photos? Your modern phone will show the eclipse, if you can get it to focus on the Moon. Aim for great photos of the stars around the dimmed Moon. The Moon will look very tiny on the phone photo, unless it magnifies the view (3x with Carol’s iPhone 14 pro), not just makes the pixels larger (my iPhone 14 not-pro maxes at 1x). Can be disappointing for people not to see the Moon as well via a phone photo as their eyes did. But photos showing the Moon with stars during the eclipse compared to before the eclipse could be memorable.
8) Speaking of photos, if Blue Ghost lasts long enough, it should get photos from the Moon’s surface of this event!
The rest of the story:
The part of this lunar eclipse when the Moon will be entirely in the Earth’s shadow will last 66 minutes. You can watch the whole thing, or just take a peek if you happen to be up anytime between 2:26am and 3:32am Eastern Time. Since the Moon will be about half-way up in our southwestern sky during totality, you’ll have to get out from under your home’s overhang or eaves to get a look at the eclipse. Binoculars will enhance the view. Look for the color shadings on the Moon and for any faint stars near the Moon. If you are outside for the early phases of the eclipse, check the stars nearby in Leo to see if more are visible as the Moon is dimmed by the Earth’s Shadow. Don’t want to stay up for the entire eclipse? Clouds getting in the way? Get up for a bit during or just before totality starts. Look for gaps in the clouds. This isn’t a brief event like a total solar eclipse.
Want to read more about this event? See the great write-up by Bob King for Sky & Telescope: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/catch-a-spectacular-total-lunar-eclipse-on-march-13-14/
Share your photos, no matter how they come out, to help people know what they could (or could have) seen!
