November full moon 2021: A Beaver Moon lunar eclipse and bright planets
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November’s full “Beaver Moon” will occur on Nov. 19 and will undergo a partial lunar eclipse, visible from eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, much of North America, South America and northwestern Europe.
The full moon officially occurs at 3:58 a.m. EST (0858 GMT), according to Astropixels.com. For New York City observers, the moon will set about three hours later at 6:58 a.m. local time, per Time andDate.
If you hope to snap a photo of the eclipse, here’s our guide on how to photograph the moon with a camera. If you need imaging equipment, our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography have recommendations to make sure you’re ready for the next eclipse.
Beaver Moon partial lunar eclipse
The partial lunar eclipse will start at 1:02 a.m. EST (0602 GMT), which is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, eight hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, and 11 hours behind Australian Eastern Daylight Time (Melbourne). Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are visible from Earth’s entire nightside — though not every location will see the entire eclipse.
For example, the penumbral phase, when the moon darkens a bit but hasn’t entered the Earth’s main shadow, starts when the moon is still below the horizon in Melbourne or Tokyo, which are at the western end of the nightside of the Earth. Meanwhile in London or Oslo the partial phase of the eclipse, when the Moon gets dark (and turns the characteristic red color) doesn’t really get underway until after the moon sets — those two cities are at the eastern end of the Earth’s nightside.
For New York City observers, the moon enters the Earth’s penumbra Nov. 19 at 1:02 a.m. local time, and the moon will be relatively high in the sky, at an altitude of about 60 degrees roughly southwest. At 2:18 a.m. local time the top of the moon will start to darken as the umbra, the central part of the Earth’s shadow, touches the moon. This is the beginning of the partial phase of the eclipse. Maximum eclipse will be at 4:03 a.m. — a sliver of the moon will still be lit, but the rest will be the classic red “Blood Moon” hue. The partial phase ends at 5:47 a.m. in New York, and the moon sets at 6:58 a.m., just a few minutes before the penumbral phase ends.
The magnitude of the eclipse, which describes the percentage of the moon’s diameter the umbra covers, is 0.974, which is why the eclipse is counted as partial rather than total, even though it will still resemble a total lunar eclipse.
If you live further west, the eclipse will begin earlier — in Dallas, the eclipse starts at 12:02 a.m, Central Standard Time and the moon will be 75 degrees above the horizon – high enough where one can lie down on a picnic blanket and get a good view. The partial phase starts at 1:18 a.m. local time, and ends at 4:47 a.m. Maximum eclipse is at 3:02 a.m.
Skywatchers on the west coast of the U.S. — for example in Los Angeles — will see the eclipse start on Nov. 18 at 10:02 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, and the partial phase begins at 11:18 p.m. Maximum eclipse is at 1:02 a.m. Nov. 19 and the partial phase ends at 2:47 a.m.
Eclipses happen because sometimes the full moon, which occurs when the moon is on exactly the opposite side of the Earth from the sun, enters the Earth’s shadow. Most of the time this doesn’t occur because the moon’s orbit is slightly inclined to the plane of Earth’s orbit, so the moon “misses” the shadow.
If an astronaut were standing on the moon during a lunar eclipse, they’d see the Earth pass in front of the sun — solar eclipse. They’d also see the Earth’s atmosphere scatter and refract the light from the sun, so the Earth would appear to be surrounded by a reddish glow on the edge of its disk. Since the blue wavelengths coming from the sun are scattered by our atmosphere, the light that reaches the moon is reddish — and we see that effect when the moon is almost totally obscured by Earth’s shadow and turns red.
Beaver Full Moon and visible planets
As the penumbral eclipse starts in New York the naked-eye planets will all be below the horizon. However, on the evening of Nov 18, the sun sets at 4:35 p.m., and an hour later one will see Venus, Saturn and Jupiter making a rough line from west to East.
By about 5:30 p.m., Venus will be the lowest of the three in the sky, about 13 degrees above the southwestern horizon, while Saturn will be at 29 degrees to the left of and above Venus; it will be in the south-southwest. Jupiter will be about 34 degrees high and nearly due south, according to heavens-above.com calculations.
Mercury, meanwhile, will be a “morning star” in the constellation Libra, rising at 6:22 a.m. EST in New York on Nov. 19. Sunrise is not until 6:47 a.m., but catching the innermost planet will be a real challenge as it will be only a 4 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon at sunrise.
Mars, meanwhile, will be about 11 degrees above the southeastern horizon in New York by sunrise on Nov. 19. It will also be difficult to see because of the sun’s glare; better views will be had in the coming months. .
Beaver Moon and the Leonid meteor shower
While the full or nearly full moon usually creates problems for meteor watching, since it is so bright it tends to wash out fainter, fleeting objects like meteors. The eclipse, though, will dim the moon for a couple of hours.
The Leonid meteor shower is an annual shower that peaks around the third week of November, but is active from Nov. 3 all the way to Dec. 2. The shower can produce spectacular storms — it did so in 1999 and 1966. This year one can expect about 15 meteors per hour. That rate assumes the radiant, which is in the constellation Leo, is at the zenith and a clear, moonless sky.
Beaver Moon and other November moon names
Full moon names reflect local cultures. This lunation will be the 11th of the year; the Ojibwe people call it Mshkawji Giizis, or “Freezing Moon.” Similarly, the Cree people called it ” Kaskatinowipisim” or “Freeze up Moon.” Both the Cree and Ojibwe nations’ traditional territories are in the Great Lakes region, freezing temperatures begin in earnest in October and November, when the 11th lunatiuon of the year can occur.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Tlingit called the 11th full moon Cha’aaw Kungáay, which means “bears hibernate,” according to the “Tlingit Moon and Tide Teaching Resource” published by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
In China, the full moon will be the 10th lunation, is called Yángyuè, or “Yang Month” as that is when the Taoist “yang” or masculine force is ascendant. In the Chinese calendar the lunation is marked as the 10th because the calendar is lunisolar rather than strictly lunar.
The KhoiKhoi people in South Africa called the November full moon the Milk Moon, according to the Center for Astronomical Heritage, an organization that works to preserve local astronomical traditions.
Editor’s note: If you snap a great photo of the Beaver Moon lunar eclipse or any other night sky sight you’d like to share with Space.com and our news partners for a story or image gallery, send images and comments to spacephotos@space.com.
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