June 26, 2010 Partial Lunar Eclipse
by James Kevin Ty
 

This coming June 26, 2010, there will be a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible in the Philippines. A lunar eclipse  occurs when the Moon passes behind the earth such that the Earth blocks the Sun’s rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun Earth and Moon  are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle..

For this eclipse, the Moon will enter the Earth's shadow by about 54% during maximum eclipse which is more or less half of the Moon will be immersed in the umbral shadow.  During that time, the Moon will be located in the constellation of Sagittarius near the top of the Teapot asterism. The event will start at around 6:24pm when the Moon  rises from the ESE horizon with more or less 5% already eclipsed. The Moon will continue to enter the Earth's shadow until it reach maximum eclipse of about 54% at around 7:39pm and afterwards, the Moon will start to exit the umbral shadow until 9:00pm when it completely exits the umbral shadow.  The Moon will totally exits the penumbral shadow at 10:20pm.

Below is a partial lunar eclipse image taken by  ALPer James Kevin Ty  last September 8, 2006 that will  more or less be similar at maximum eclipse but at a little more immersed in the umbral shadow.

Below are the complete timings of the partial lunar eclipse:

Detailed diagram and illustration of the June 26, 2010 Partial Lunar Eclipse made by Fred Espenak can be viewed below:

ALP will tentatively observe this event most probably at the roofdeck of Trinoma parking space as it has a clear ESE horizon more or less.  On added notes, some ALPers will also observe  this event at AstroCamp Observatory in SM MOA when it is at its maximum eclipse (early part of the eclipse is not visible at this site because of mall building obstruction)  till the end of the eclipse. For more info on the eclipse observation, please contact ALP President  James Kevin Ty at 0917-8559863 or 0922-8999ALP (257)  or ALP PRO Armando Lee at 09177922053 .