Sky watchers are in for a special treat. “On the night of Aug. 27, into the morning of the 28th, we’ll be getting a 96 per cent coverage lunar eclipse,” explained Orbax, a science communicator at the University of Guelph, in an interview with CTV News. A lunar eclipse is when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. According to the Canadian Space Agency, “this phenomenon can only happen during a full moon, when the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth than the Sun.” A partial eclipse occurs when the Moon partially crosses the umbra, the inner part of Earth’s shadow where there is no sunlight. “The great thing about a lunar eclipse is that our view of the moon is not totally obscured,” Orbax said. In the first phase of the eclipse, around 10:34 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, NASA said, “the umbra’s dramatic effect is easily visible as it takes an increasingly large bite out of the disk of the full Moon.” It will be much more noticeable about an hour later. “The part of the Moon still in sunlight will be small enough for observers’ eyes to adapt to darkness and perceive the coppery color of the part of the Moon within the umbra,” NASA said. The Moon may also appear red. The celestial event will peak at 4:13 a.m. Universal Time (UTC), or 12:13 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, with 96.3 per cent of the Moon in Earth’s umbra. The eclipse will be visible across Canada and the U.S. (with the exception of Alaska and northwestern Canada), as well as Central America, South America, western Europe and western Africa.
