·

Watch total lunar eclipse of April 15th LIVE

watch-total-lunar-eclipse-of-april-15th-live

During the early hours of April 15, 2014 (UTC time) the full Moon will pass directly through Earth’s dark shadow, or umbra, setting an impressive total lunar eclipse. The Moon will gradually get darker and then take on a rusty or blood red color.

It will take a little more than three and a half hours for the Moon to completely sweep through Earth's shadow. 

The partial umbral eclipse will begin at 05:58 UTC making a way to the total eclipse which will begin at 07:07 UTC and reach greatest eclipse phase at 07:46 UTC. The total lunar eclipse will end at 08:25 UTC and the partial umbral eclipse will end at 09:33 UTC.

Though the full eclipse will only be visible throughout most of North America and South America, viewers from around the world can enjoy it online by following the links at the end of this article.

Path of the Moon through Earth's umbral and penumbral shadows during the Total Lunar Eclipse of April 15, 2014. Image courtesy of Fred Espenak.

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 5:58 UTC
Total eclipse begins: 7:07 UTC
Greatest eclipse: 7:46 UTC
Total eclipse ends: 8:25 UTC
Partial umbral eclipse ends: 9:33 UTC

Visibility of the April 15th total lunar eclipse

The April 15th lunar eclipse is perfectly placed for most of North and South America where the entire event will be visible. Observers in northwestern Africa and the eastern half of South America will miss some stages of the eclipse because they occur after moonset. Observers in Japan and Australia will miss the early stages of the eclipse since it begins before moonrise.

New Zealand will see the entire eclipse except in the southwest where the eclipse is already in progress at moonrise.

No part of the eclipse is visible from Europe, most of Africa, the Middle East or most of Asia.

Map showing the global visibility of the Total Lunar Eclipse of April 15, 2014. Map courtesy of Fred Espenak.
(Click here to see larger version of this map)

Key to Eclipse Visibility Map
Symbol Event
U1 Partial eclipse begins
U2 Total eclipse begins
U3 Total eclipse ends
U4 Partial eclipse ends

Online viewing schedule

The best online-viewing experience will probably come from Slooh Observatory. They will join two events into one broadcast special… the closest approach of Mars since 2008 and a total lunar eclipse of April 15th. Slooh will present these events in real time, starting with coverage of Mars at 07:00 PM PDT / 10:00 PM EDT (April 14) / 02:00 UTC (April 15) from Slooh's telescopes off the west coast of Africa in the Canary Islands and transitioning to coverage of the total lunar eclipse starting at 11:00 PM PDT / 02:00 AM EDT (April 14/15) / 06:00 UTC (April 15) with live feeds from throughout North America.

Viewers can watch it free on Slooh.com or by downloading the Slooh iPad app.

The live image stream will be hosted by Slooh Observatory Director Paul Cox and Slooh astronomer Bob Berman, who will be reporting live from Prescott Observatory in Prescott, Arizona. Viewers can ask questions during the show by using hashtag #Slooh.

YouTube video

Video courtesy of Slooh Observatory

A wide range of experts will join Slooh during five full hours of programming, including astronomy luminary and bestselling author Timothy Ferris, author of "Seeing in the Dark", and Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at UC Berkeley, and documentary filmmaker Duncan Copp, producer of the award winning film, "In the Shadow of the Moon". This is the latest in a series of total lunar eclipse broadcasts dating back to Slooh's founding in 2003, the highlights of which are a June 2011 broadcast that was featured in the Google Doodle and a December 2010 eclipse broadcast live on the largest jumbotron in Times Square.

The Virtual Telescope Project will also host a live event starting at 06:30 UTC on the morning of April 15th.

NASA will host two events for NASA moon experts to answer your questions. On Monday, April 14 from 02:00 – 03:00 PM EDT (18:00 – 19:00 UTC), NASA planetary scientist Renee Weber will take your questions via a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). The Reddit page will be live on April 14 at approximately 01:45 PM EDT, and the link will be promoted on this page.

NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams and astrophysicist Alphonse Sterling will also answer questions in a live web chat, beginning on April 15 at 01:00 AM EDT (05:00 UTC) and continuing through the end of the eclipse. The chat module will go live on this page at approximately 12:45 AM EDT (04:45 UTC).

live Ustream view of the lunar eclipse will be streamed on the night of the event, courtesy of Marshall Space Flight Center.

Video streaming by Ustream

A tetrad of total lunar eclipses – 2014/2015

April 15th lunar eclipse will set off a tetrad of total lunar eclipses, 4 consecutive total lunar eclipses set to occur during 2014/15. The second eclipse is on October 08 and it will also be visible from the USA. 

The third and fourth eclipses of the tetrad occur on April 04, 2015 and September 28, 2015.

YouTube video

Video courtesy of NASA

During the 21st century there will be a total of 8 total lunar eclipse tetrads. The last tetrad prior to 2014 was in 2003/04 while the next group is in 2032/33. (More about tetrads here)

Featured image: NASA / Edit: The Watchers

Share:

Commenting rules and guidelines

We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:

  • Treat others with kindness and respect.
  • Stay on topic and contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.
  • Do not use abusive or hateful language.
  • Do not spam or promote unrelated products or services.
  • Do not post any personal information or content that is illegal, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.

8 Comments

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *