Lunar eclipse of the Full Harvest Moon: The best time to see it in major cities in the US

Stargazers will not only be treated to a full supermoon on Tuesday evening but also a partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest Moon. Roughly eight percent of the top portion of the moon will appear to have a “reddish bite” taken out of it as part of our natural satellite passes through the Earth’s umbral shadow.

While no direct light from the Sun will reach the Moon, the “reddish bite” effect is caused by the Earth’s atmosphere bending sunlight leaving just the red wavelengths falling on the surface of the Moon that enters the Earth’s umbra, or inner shadow. Thanks to the astronomical spectacle occurring relatively early in the evening over the Mainland United States, those who want to take a gander won’t have to stay up into the wee hours of the night to see the best part of the show.

Lunar eclipse of the Full Harvest Moon: The best time to see it in major cities in the US

The celestial phenomenon will get going at 8:41 pm EDT, or 5:41 pm PDT, as the Moon enters the penumbra, or outer shadow, of the Earth. Roughly an hour and a half later “people should start noticing a ‘reddish bite’ being taken out of the top part of the Moon,” according to Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. Specifically, this will begin at roughly 10:12 pm EDT, or 7:12 pm PDT.

This is the phase that will be the most visually stunning as a portion of the Moon will enter into the umbra and the “reddish bite” will grow until it reaches its maximum 32 minutes later. The partial phase will be over at 11:15 pm EDT, or 8:15 pm PDT.

The final penumbral phase of the eclipse will go on for about another hour and a half after which the eclipse will finish. Below are a list of times for each phase in major cities from coast to coast by time zone.

The partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest Moon won’t be visible in Hawaii or Alaska but will be visible for much of North and South America as well as Africa and Europe.