2016 Harvest Moon Penumbral Eclipse

15 September 2016

 - Full moon comes on September 16, 2016, and, for the Northern Hemisphere, this upcoming full moon is known as the Harvest Moon. It’s a particularly close and large Harvest Moon, which some will call a supermoon. And the September 16 moon will undergo a very subtle kind of eclipse known as a penumbral eclipse, visible from the world’s Eastern Hemisphere.

The moon will reach the crest of its full phase on September 16 at 1905 UTC. That’ll be 3:05 p.m. ET for us in North America; thus, the moon is beneath our horizon as it turns exactly full, and we will miss out on the September 16 penumbral lunar eclipse.

If you are in the world’s Eastern Hemisphere, know that this is a very subtle eclipse. Some will look right at it and swear no eclipse is taking place! The moon sweeps through Earth’s penumbral (light) shadow from 1655 to 2054 UTC; translate to your time zone.