Don't Blink or You'll Miss the April 4 Lunar Eclipse

The Saturday, April 4, a total lunar eclipse will be the shortest one of the century, lasting five minutes or less.

Around here, what you can see will be even shorter.

The latter parts of the eclipse will not be visible from New York or other locations in the Eastern Daylight Time zone because the moon will have set.

Weather-wise, it could be clear enough. The National Weather Service predicts rain Friday night and a partially sunny Saturday, so the question is when those clouds will roll away (and in which direction).

The April 4 eclipse is the third in a series of four total eclipses with no partial eclipses in between them, known as a tetrad. The dates of the four eclipses in this tetrad are:

• April 14-15, 2014
• Oct. 7-8, 2014
• April 4, 2015
• Sept. 28, 2015

When to Watch

In New York the partial umbral eclipse begins: 6:15 a.m. EDT.

Moon sets before the start of total eclipse.

If you want to see that beginning, make sure your view of the western horizon is unobstructed. Because the moon will be so low in the sky you could get a photo with an interesting background—but think fast!

If you take any pictures of the eclipse, send them to lanning.taliaferro@patch.com for inclusion in our gallery.

Or watch virtually—Slooh will host a live webcast of the total lunar eclipse on the Slooh.com website on Saturday starting at 6 a.m. The webcast will be available on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

And if you miss it, don’t worry—totality in the Sept. 28 lunar eclipse will last 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 56 seconds.

Graphic: NASA