- Sunday evening will bring a complete eclipse of the moon to Slovakia.
- The moon in full will be released at 19:17. Selč.
- The maximum eclipse phase occurs between 20:11 and 20:56 CEST.
- The observation of the eclipse depends on good weather conditions.
- The eclipses of the moon are visible from the half of the ground surface.
Sunday evening will be enriched by an unusual astronomical phenomenon, a complete eclipse of the moon. It will be observable right after its east. The month in full will be released on Sunday at 7:17 pm. Central European summer time (CEST, data for Bratislava). The maximum eclipse phase will last from 20:11 hrs. to 20:56 HO.D CEST. At this time, the moon will be only eight to 15 degrees, so it will still rise above the horizon. The phenomenon will end at 21:56.
According to the weather forecasts, the conditions for observing eclipse should be favorable, The clear sky can only temporarily cover fog or low clouds. “According to some information, the eclipse of the moon is observed by many more people than the solar eclipse. While the solar eclipse is visible on a limited surface of the earth, the monthly eclipse can be seen wherever our cosmic neighbor is above the horizon, or almost halfway the earth – Assuming that the weather conditions allow. When watching a monthly eclipse we do not need a dark filter, there is no risk of visual impairment as in the case of sunny eclipse if we neglect eye protection, ”said photographer and publisher Marián Dujnič for TASR.
This is the first complete eclipse of the Moon observable from Slovakia since the beginning of this decade. The phenomenon occurs when the Moon, Earth and the Sun find themselves on one straight line. Thus, the Moon in its orbit around the Earth passes through a place where our planet overshadows the light coming from the Sun. The moon in full full is always on the opposite side than the sun. However, its orbit is 5.2 degrees towards Earth. Without this inclination, the eclipse would occur at every full full, ie every 29.5 days.
When the moon finds itself in the earth’s shade, there is a complete eclipse. If it passes through the shadow only in part, we are talking about a partial eclipse in which only part of the monthly disk darkens. Finally, if a month passes only a half -shade, it is a half -shade eclipse, which is manifested by a slight darkening of the monthly disc.
As Marián Dujnič recalled, in the 60s of the last century, the Czech astronomer Jiří Bouška was professionally involved in the monthly eclipse (1925 – 2014), associate professor of astronomy at Charles University in Prague. He collected the time data of craters with the Earth’s shadow measured by astronomy friends in monthly eclipses.
“As a 15-year-old, I measured several craters interactions with the Earth’s shadow in my native Spišská Nová Ves at the partial eclipse of the month of June 14, 1965 and sent them to associate professor Boušek. He processed the observations and found that in this eclipse the Earth’s shadow was two percent larger than the calculations. I worked in this area with associate professor Boušek until the 1980s. The results also with the names of observers associate professor Bouška published in the Bletin of Czechoslovak astronomical institutes based in English, ”said Marián Dujnič.
Although the moon is immersed in the shadow of the earth, it remains partially illuminated. This is caused by the scattering and refraction of light in the Earth’s atmosphere. The weak glow of the moon during complete eclipse is called ash shine. In a few years, three full eclipses of the month in Slovakia will be observed in Slovakia – December 31, 2028, 26 June 2029 and 20 December 2029.
