Partial Lunar Eclipse on June 26, 2010

A partial lunar eclipse will be visible in areas such as the Pacific and eastern Australia on June 26, 2010. This will be the first lunar eclipse in 2010 and the second of all eclipses that occur throughout the year. 

Will the Eclipse be Visible?

The eclipse will be visible from much of the Americas, the Pacific and eastern Asia. New England and eastern Canada will miss the entire eclipse since the event begins after moonset from those regions.

When will the Eclipse Occur?

The penumbral eclipse ("P1") begins at 08:57:21 Universal Time (UT) and the partial eclipse ("U1") begins at 10:16:57 UT. The greatest eclipse occurs at 11:38:27 UT when the northern half of the lunar disk will be immersed in the umbra. The moon will be in the constellation Sagittarius, near the top of the familiar Teapot star pattern. The umbral eclipse magnitude will be 0.5368 at the instant of greatest eclipse. The moon will be at the zenith for observers in the South Pacific at that time.  The partial eclipse ("U4") ends at 12:59:50 UT and the penumbral eclipse ("P4") ends at 14:19:34 UT.

Where will the Eclipse Occur?

The June 26 eclipse will be visible to observers in places such as:

• Hawaii.
• Western Alaska.
• Australia.
• New Zealand.
• Eastern portions of Malaysia and other parts of Asia.

Some evidence of the moon’s passage through the Earth’s shadow can also be seen from western North America but the moon will set just as the eclipse starts to become interesting (Harrington, 1997: 239). Observers must be located in the Pacific or eastern Australia to catch the entire event.

Eclipses in 2010

The eclipse that occurs on January 15, 2010, is not the only eclipse for the year. The full list of eclipses in 2010 includes:

• An annular solar eclipse on January 15.
• A partial lunar eclipse on June 26.
• A total solar eclipse on July 11.
• A total lunar eclipse on December 21.

timeanddate.com will provide information on more eclipses close to the time of their occurrence.

Note: Universal Time (UT) is a timescale based on the Earth’s rotation. UT is expected to be about 0.05 seconds behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during most of June. Eclipse information courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and P. Harrington, author of Eclipse! The What, Where, When, Why & How Guide to Watching Solar and Lunar Eclipses.