Watch a lunar eclipse, or at least try it

Tonight, as you pick up some late-night Thanksgiving leftovers, take a moment to admire the full moon. Notice anything different? It’s subtle, but early Monday (Sunday night if you’re on the west coast), the full moon should appear a little darker than usual. This is because you are witnessing a penumbral lunar eclipse, a celestial event in which the moon dips behind the faint outer shadow or penumbra of the Earth.

Penumbral eclipses are mild, in some cases barely noticeable, says Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. “It’s not something that will slap you in the face.”

So the Sunday night eclipse will not be as dramatic as a total lunar eclipse, in which the moon dips into the dark inner shadow of the Earth, called umbra, turning its surface blood red. Nor is it as surprising as a partial lunar eclipse, where the moon slips behind part of the shady shadow and it looks like a space monster has bitten a giant cookie.

And it’s not as majestic as a total solar eclipse, where the new moon glides past the sun, leaving a thin white halo that shines in the daytime sky.

But the penumbral eclipse may still be worth your time as an opportunity to test how attuned you are to the night sky, Dr. Faherty said. For our ancestors who lived without city lights or street lights, the moon provided most of the useful light at night. If it subsided slightly, people noticed it.

But that perception was partly lost as our reliance on the moon’s glow waned. Dr. Faherty suggests using the penumbral eclipse to test your senses.

“Accept the lunar challenge,” said Dr. Faherty. “Really look at it. Bask in the moonlight and see how it feels. Can you feel the difference? “

The penumbral eclipse will be visible in North and South America, parts of East Asia, Australia and the Pacific, according to Space.com. It will start around 2:32 am Eastern time.

The best time to face the lunar challenge will be “the greatest eclipse,” which is 4:43 am Eastern morning, when 83% of the full moon is in the twilight shadow of the Earth, according to NASA.

But if you’re still not convinced you’re looking at the penumbral eclipse, then maybe you can take this ingenious fact out of its appearance – it’s a harbinger of the next total solar eclipse. Lunar eclipses and solar eclipses are celestial peas in a pod. Once one appears, the other will follow two weeks later. And on December 14, there will be a total solar eclipse that will sweep parts of Chile and Argentina.