Will Seattle get a glimpse of the near-total lunar eclipse this week, the longest of the century? Here’s what we know
Callie Craighead,
November 16, 2021
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A total lunar eclipse in the phase of a “super moon” as seen from the Seattle Center on Sunday, September 27th, 2015.
Jake Ellison / Seattlepi.com
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The moon glows red during a total lunar eclipse on Tuesday, April 15, 2014, as seen from the Milwaukee area.
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A map showing the visibility of the partial lunar eclipse from November 18-19, 2021.
Photo credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio5from5
A near-total lunar eclipse is expected to be visible to much of the United States later this week, but weather could potentially obstruct Seattle’s view of the celestial event.
The partial solar eclipse will be the longest in the century, lasting a total of 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 23 seconds, beginning at around 11:18 p.m. PST Thursday, according to NASA’s full moon guide. During the event, the earth, sun and moon align closely with the earth in the center and cast the earth’s shadow on the moon.
The maximum solar eclipse, when the moon is closest to the center of shadow, is expected to occur on Friday around 1:02 a.m. PST. Over 97% of the lunar surface appears covered, so only a small sliver appears bright on the left, while the rest of the face is deep red or ocher in color.
Film of the “NEAR TOTAL ECLIPSE”. The longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years occurs on the morning of November 19th. The first part of the solar eclipse begins at 1:02 a.m. EST. The maximum solar eclipse occurs at 4:02 am, when 97% of the MOON is in the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow. pic.twitter.com/2HwPpqPbbd
– Holcomb Observatory (@holcombobserv) November 13, 2021
However, observing the solar eclipse largely depends on whether the weather stays clear. After Monday’s wet and windy storm front, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast in Seattle is currently forecasting that the next active weather system will sweep the area on Thursday, potentially blocking view of the eclipse that evening.
“A weather system will pass mainly south of the area later in the week – but it could rain lightly in the southern half of west Washington on Thursday,” NWS wrote in their Tuesday forecast briefing.
If the sky viewing conditions on Thursday are not favorable, the solar eclipse can also be viewed online via the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 and the live stream video from Time and Date.
The moon will stay full until Saturday morning – in a so-called “Beaver Moon” for the month of November.
Callie is a web producer for SeattlePI, focusing on local politics, transportation, real estate, and restaurants. She previously worked for an e-commerce craft beer company and loves exploring Seattle’s breweries. Her writing has been featured in Seattle Magazine and the Seattle University Spectator, where she was a student journalist.