Strawberry Full Moon Livestream: How and When to Watch June Lunar Eclipse Live Online
Friday's "strawberry" full moon will feature a lunar eclipse that will be visible across many parts of the world.
The so-called "penumbral lunar eclipse" can be seen from Africa, much of Europe, most of Asia, Australia, Antarctica and a small slice of South America, as well as the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Unfortunately, North Americans will not be able to observe the astronomical phenomenon in real-life. But if you would still like to watch the event, the Virtual Telescope Project will be providing live coverage of the moon above the Rome skyline beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
YouTube channel CosmoSapiens will also be providing a stream of the eclipse, with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET.
The eclipse itself will technically begin at 1:45 p.m. ET, and will end at 5:04 p.m. ET, with maximum eclipse occurring at 3:26 p.m. ET.
There are three main kinds of lunar eclipses, all of which occur when the sun, Earth and moon are all lined up in space, with our planet located in between the two other bodies. When this alignment occurs roughly once every month, the face of the moon that points towards us is fully illuminated—what's known as a full moon.
During some full lunar phases, the three bodies are lined up in such a way that the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon, leading to either a total, partial or penumbral eclipse.
Penumbral lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon are imperfectly aligned, with the outer, diffuse part of the Earth's shadow—known as the penumbra—covering all or part of the moon's surface.
"A penumbral lunar eclipse happens when our moon is 'kissed' only marginally by the most external regions of the structure of the Earth's shadow," astronomer Gianluca Masi, from the Virtual Telescope Project, told Newsweek.
Unlike total and partial lunar eclipses when the dark center of the Earth's shadow—or "umbra"—covers all or part of the moon's surface, penumbral lunar eclipses are not very noticeable with the untrained eye. In fact, penumbral lunar eclipses often look similar to a regular full moon.
At maximum eclipse on Friday (3:26 p.m. ET) 59 percent of the moon's surface will be covered by the Earth's penumbra, meaning some portions may look slightly darker than during a normal full moon.
The eclipse will not be visible from North America, because the moon won't be in the sky during the hours the event occurs, according to Gordon Johnston, Planetary Program Executive at NASA Headquarters, writing for the NASA Science blog.
