Astroblog


North-eastern horizon as seen from Sydney on 3 March at 22:34 AEDST. The Moon is at totality. The inset shows the telescopic/binocular view at this time. Click to embiggen	North-eastern as seen from Adelaide on 3 March at 22:03 ACDST. The Moon is at totality. The inset shows the telescopic/binocular view at this time. Click to embiggen	Eastern horizon as seen from Perth on 3 March at 19:34 AWST. The Moon is at totality. The inset shows the telescopic/binocular view at this time. Click to embiggen

On the evening of Tuesday, March the 3rd there is a nice total eclipse, the last total eclipse in Australia until December 2028 (which is in the early morning). Fortunately, the eclipse starts in the early evening, and is very convenient, especially if you have young children. This is a nice eclipse with totality lasting 59 minutes.

Times for the eclipse at cities around Australia are below. Western Australia sees the moon rise in the twilight almost completely eclipsed, Central states see the eclipse end around Nautical twilight as the sky is beginning to darken. For the East coast sees the eclipse start either when the sky is fully dark or twilight is just ending. Everywhere will be able to see totality and eclipse end.

You will see some sites calling this a "blood Moon", The Moon does not turn the colour of blood but will go a deep copper colour due to the refraction of red light through our atmosphere.

A guide I wrote for the October 2014 lunar eclipse to taking photos of the eclipse is here. And here is a more general (and more recent) link to lunar photography with mobile phones and adapters that is useful for mobile phone imaging of the eclipse.

You can also use this eclipse to show the earth is not flat.

See here for a map and contact timings in Universal Time for sites outside Australia.

City	Civil Twilight	Nautical Twilight	Astronomical twilight	Eclipse Start	Totality Start	Maximum Eclipse	Totality End	Eclipse End
Adelaide (ACDST)	20:16	20:46	21:18	20:20	21:34	22:03	22:33	23:47
Alice Springs (ACST)	19:45	20:14	20:43	19:20	20:34	21:04	21:33	22:47
Brisbane (AEST)	18:41	19:09	19:37	19:50	21:04	21:34	22:03	23:17
Cairns (AEST)	19:02	19:28	19:53	19:50	21:04	21:34	22:03	23:17
Canberra (AEDST)	20:04	20:35	21:06	20:50	22:04	22:34	23:03	00:17
Darwin (ACST)	19:29	19:54	20:19	19:20	20:34	21:03	21:33	22:47
Hobart (AEDST)	20:21	20:56	21:32	20:50	22:04	22:34	23:03	00:17
Melbourne (AEDST)	20:24	20:56	21:28	20:50	22:04	22:34	23:03	00:17
Perth (AWST)	19:14	19:43	20:13	17:50	19:04	19:34	20:03	21:17
Rockhampton (AEST)	18:48	19:15	19:42	19:50	21:04	21:34	22:03	23:17
Sydney (AEDST)	19:55	20:24	20:55	20:50	22:04	22:34	23:03	00:17
Townsville (AEST)	19:00	19:25	19:52	19:50	21:04	21:34	22:03	23:17

Weather: Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: eclipse, lunar eclipse, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:54 am 0 comments


Western horizon as seen from Sydney on 8 September at 4:12 AEST. The Moon is at totality. The inset shows the telescopic/binocular view at this time. Click to embiggen	Western horizon as seen from Adelaide on 8 September at 3:42 ACST. The Moon is at totality. The inset shows the telescopic/binocular view at this time. Click to embiggen	North-Western horizon as seen from Perth on 8 September at 2:12 AWST. The Moon is at totality. The inset shows the telescopic/binocular view at this time. Click to embiggen

On the morning of September the 8th there is a nice total eclipse, the first in Australia since November 2022. which, sadly you will have to be up very early on a work Monday morning to see. this is a nice deep eclipse with totality lasting 1 hour, 22 minutes.

Times for the eclipse at cities around Australia are below. Western Australia sees all the eclipse, Central states see the eclipse end around Nautical twilight as the sky is brightening. For the east coast totality ends around Nautical Twilight, when the sky is brightening but the eclipse will still be obvious. The eclipse ends after Civil Twilight when the sky is bright, and around the time of moon set (strictly the eclipse has not ended, I have not included the times of the penumbra phases). You will see some sites calling this a "blood Moon", The Moon does not turn the colour of blood but will go a deep copper colour due to the refraction of red light through our atmosphere.

A guide I wrote for the October 2014 lunar eclipse to taking photos of the eclipse is here. And here is a more general (and more recent) link to lunar photography with mobile phones and adapters that is useful for mobile phone imaging of the eclipse.

You can also use this eclipse to show the earth is not flat.

See here for a map and contact timings in Universal Time for sites outside Australia.

City	Civil Twilight	Nautical Twilight	Astronomical twilight	Eclipse Start	Totality Start	Maximum Eclipse	Totality End	Eclipse End
Adelaide (ACST)	6:00	5:31	5:02	1:57	3:01	3:42	4:23	5:27
Alice Springs (ACST)	6:15	5:50	5:24	1:57	3:01	3:42	4:23	5:27
Auckland (NZT)	6:06	5:36	5:06	4:26	5:29	6:11	-	-
Brisbane (AEST)	5:31	5:02	5:24	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Cairns (AEST)	6:15	5:50	5:06	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Canberra (AEST)	5:48	5:19	4:29	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Christchurch (NZT)	6:16	5:43	5:10	4:26	5:29	6:11	-	-
Darwin (ACST)	6:25	6:00	5:35	1:57	3:01	3:42	4:23	5:27
Hobart (AEST)	5:27	4:59	4:25	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Melbourne (AEST)	6:05	5:35	5:05	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Perth (AWST)	6:00	5:32	5:04	00:27	1:31	2:12	2:53	3:57
Rockhampton (AEST)	6:05	5:28	5:11	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Sydney (AEST)	5:40	5:11	4:42	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57
Townsville (AEST)	6:15	5:49	5:23	2:27	3:31	4:12	4:53	5:57

Weather: Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: eclipse, lunar eclipse, Moon, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:33 pm 2 comments


Evening sky on March 14 looking east as seen from Brisbane at 18:15 AEST, 10 minutes after Moon rise, the inset is the moon a	Evening sky on March 14 looking east as seen from Melbourne at 19:45 AEDST, 5 minutes after Moon rise	Evening sky on March 14 looking east as seen from Sydney at 19:35 AEDST, 20 minutes after Moon rise

On the early evening of Friday, 15 March there is a partial lunar eclipse low in the twilight in the Eastern sates. The Moon rises as the eclipse is finishing with only a small portion of the moon is in the deepest part of Earth's shadow (elsewhere in the world sees a Total Lunar Eclipse).

Live streams of the eclipse can de see at:

Time and date March 14 16:00 AEDST: https://www.timeanddate.com/live/eclipse-lunar-2025-march-14

Virtual telescope Live webtv March 14 17:00 AEDST: https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/

Griffith University in California March 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BguB5KSBYd0

City	Moon rise	Umbral eclipse ends
Brisbane	8:05 AEST	18:41 AEST
Melbourne	19:40 AEDST	19:47 AEDST
Sydney	19:14 AEDST	19:47 AEDST

Labels: eclipse, live-stream, lunar eclipse, Moon, partial, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:48 pm 0 comments

Morning sky on Sunday, October 29 as seen from Perth at 05:04 AWST, (shortly before Moon-set click to embiggen).

The moon is just beginning to enter the Earth's inner shadow. The inset is the binocular view of the moon at this time.

3:35 am AWST Partial eclipse (Umbral) begins

4:14 am AWST Maximum Eclipse (only a chip covered)

5:23 am AWST Moon set

From the rest of Australia, the Moon will have set before any significant amount of eclipse happens. A tiny sliver of the eclipse is seen from Adelaide just before the Moon sets.

Labels: eclipse, lunar eclipse, Moon

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 2:14 pm 0 comments