Partial lunar eclipse on 16/17 July 2019
Like last year, there will be a lunar eclipse in 2019 late in the evening hours of a warm summer night: This time it's the night from the 16th to the 17th of July. The eclipse is only partial - the moon does not enter Earth's shadow completely - but it is the only well-observable lunar eclipse in the German-speaking world for the next few years.
A cosmic spectacle lies ahead on Tuesday, 16 July in the evening: A large part of the full Moon enters the shadow of the Earth, a partial lunar eclipse takes place. At the maximum around 23:30 CEST nearly two thirds of the Moon are covered by Earth's reddish shadow. This is the last lunar eclipse that is clearly visible from central Europe until 16 May 2022.
For central Germany the Moon rises about 21:17 CEST this evening, in the east and south somewhat earlier, in the north and west somewhat later. When the Moon has its first contact with the shadow of the Earth at 22:01 CEST, it will have risen everywhere. Then it ascends slowly and wanders further into Earth's shadow - at the left upper edge an increasing piece of the full moon will be missing.
At 23:31 CEST the eclipse reaches its maximum, 65% of the Moon are eclipsed, while its uneclipsed, lower part sails like a ship atr the southern horizon. Until 1 o'clock one can watch how the Moon slowly moves out of Earth's shadow. Then it is only slightly darkened by the punumbra of the Earth until 2:20 CEST, which photos show much better than the human eye can see.
If you would like to take photos of this lunar eclipse, try overview images with a nice foreground or use a telephoto lens and mount your camera on a tripod. The special thing about this eclipse is that Moon rises in the still bright twilight - as the moon slowly enters Earth's shadow, it gets darker and darker.
Friends of lunar eclipses must be patient after this event: Only in the morning of 16 May 2022 the moon will enter the umbra of the Earth again visibly from central Europe. The situation is about the same on 14 March 2025; and we will have to wait until 7 September 2025 for the next beautiful lunar eclipse in the evening sky - finally a total eclipse.