Thursday, May 04, 2023
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, May 5-6 2023.
Morning
sky on Saturday May 6 looking west as seen from
Adelaide at 02:52 ACST. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen). Note the subtle darkening of the Moon in the inset.
On the morning of May 6 there is a penumbral eclipse of the Moon,
where the Moon glides through the outer segment of the shadow cast by
Earth. There will be a faint, but visible, darkening of the Moons
northern regions.
Unfortunately, this all occurs in the early morning,
so you will need to get up in the early hours to see it. However, to
eclipse aficionados the subtle darkening of the Moons bright light to a
pearly glow is quiet beautiful. It is also the morning of the eta Aquariid meteor shower peak, so you can combine the two events if your
are careful about your night vision.
The table below shows the time of the eclipse from Eastern, Central and
Western Australia.
| Penumbral Eclipse Begins | Maximum Eclipse | Penumbral Eclipse Ends |
| 1:12 am AEST 6 May | 03:23 am AEST 6 May | 05:34 am AEST6 May |
| 12:42 am ACST 6 May | 02:53 am ACST 6 May | 05:04 am AEST 6 May |
| 11:23 pm AWST 5 May | 01:23 am AWST 6 May | 03:34 am AWST 6 May |
For other regions, see here for UT timings.
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