Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, March 12 and 13 2025, with Total Eclipse Coverage, written by Alan French

This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, March 12 and 13 2025, with Total Eclipse Coverage, written by Alan French.

Late Thursday night into Friday morning we have our first total lunar eclipse visible in its entirety since May 16, 2022. Full details after our usual Sun and Moon information.

The Sun rises at 7:12 A.M. on Wednesday and sets at 6:58 P.M. On Thursday it rises at 7:10 A.M. and sets at 7:00 P.M. The times are considerably different than last week because we changed to Daylight Saving Time last Sunday morning, moving the clocks forward an hour. Thursday gained 20 minutes; 24 seconds of daylight compared to last Thursday.

The Moon was at first quarter last Thursday morning and is headed toward full, when it will pass through the Earth’s shadow and we will enjoy the total lunar eclipse. On Wednesday a 98.4% sunlit Moon will rise a little north of due east at 5:31 P.M. By 7:00 P.M. it will be 15 degrees above the eastern horizon. The Moon will be due south at 00:22 on Thursday.

The Moon, approaching full, will rise at 6:35 P.M. Thursday in the east. As it rises, it will be 99.9% sunlit – it will look full by eye. At 7:00 P.M. it will be approaching 4 degrees altitude and should be a lovely sight.

The Earth’s shadow consists of two parts, a brighter, outer penumbra, where our planet blocks part of the Sun’s light, and a darker, inner, umbra, where the Earth blocks all the Sun’s direct light. Our atmosphere refracts some sunlight into the umbra. The darkness of the umbra depends on the cloud cover around our Earth, as seen from the Moon. Since this light is from the sunsets and sunrise around the Earth, it is red to orange.

The Moon moves into the penumbra at 11:57 P.M., but the penumbral shadow is faint and invisible at first. The Moon will probably have moved far enough into the shadow for us to notice around 12:30 P.M. Thursday, but note when you spot some subtle shading. First contact with the umbra, which is obvious, happens at 1:09 A.M. Friday. Totality, when the Moon is fully in the umbral shadow, begins at 2:26 A.M.

Mid-eclipse, with the Moon deepest in the shadow and darkest is at 2:59. Will it be a dark eclipse, with the Moon faintly visible and subtly colored, or a bright eclipse, with a brighter, colorful Moon?

Totality ends at 3:32 when the Moon starts moving out of the umbra. The partial phase ends at 4:48, with the Moon completely out of the umbra, and the penumbral shadow is last visible around 5:30 A.M. When do you last notice the subtle shading of the penumbra? The Moon leaves the penumbra and the eclipse is over at 6:00.