Partial Lunar Eclipse on Saturday
The last partial lunar eclipse of 2023 will be seen this Saturday, on the same night as the full Moon in October, colloquially known as the “Hunter’s Moon,” but it will only be visible in 12 of our country’s 32 states, but for the good fortune of the regions that will have the opportunity to appreciate it, the phenomenon will reach between 70 and 80 percent perceptibility.
This Saturday night, a few days after the annular eclipse of the Sun in October, we will witness a partial lunar eclipse, when the Moon is placed in front of the Earth’s shadow, so we recommend that you look at the sky starting at 7:00 p.m., when the sky is dark, because you can enjoy this phenomenon from the moment the Moon rises, from the east of the American continent, until its setting after dawn.
“Space” informs us that a lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves to the outer reaches of our planet, where the “penumbra,” or the clearest form of the Earth’s shadow, is found. However, the Earth does not remain silent, as it also causes a movement between the Sun and the Moon, causing the “umbra,” or the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, to pass through a fragment of the lunar disc, at which point the eclipse will reach its maximum magnitude and, later
To produce a partial lunar eclipse, it is necessary to have a full Moon night, as well as the presence of lunar nodes, therefore we will go through the following steps:
One key rule is that “for a lunar eclipse to occur, there must be forcibly a full Moon,” in contrast to what happens with a full Moon, which may occur without the need for a lunar eclipse. As a result, the announcement of a lunar eclipse does not occur every month.
This is due to the fact that the Moon’s motion is not linear, but rather has a little inclination of 5°, which differs the course of its orbital trajectory from that of the Earth and the Sun, which is elliptic. As a result, lunar eclipses occur only when the Moon crosses the Earth’s orbital trajectory, and they are known as “nodos lunares” during the time of this occurrence.
This orbital coincidence is unusual since, following the partial lunar eclipse on Saturday, we will have to wait about a year to assess another occurrence of this magnitude, as the next one will not occur until September 17, 2024.
As a result, if you live in a state where the eclipse will be visible, you should not pass up the opportunity to see it, especially because you will have the entire night to do it.
According to various sources, the partial lunar eclipse will be visible at 80% in Chiapas, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, and Coahuila, and 70% in Durango, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sonora, Tlaxcala, and Mexico City.
