Partial Lunar Eclipse: Aug 16

On the heels of last week's total solar eclipse, this Saturday night, August 16, there will be a partial lunar eclipse, visible in New England, South America, Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia. Sorry rest of the US, you don't get to see it.

Lunar eclipses often precede or follow solar eclipses because a solar eclipse requires the Earth, Moon, and Sun to be very precisely lined up, with the Moon in the middle. This precise condition doesn't last very long, maybe a couple weeks, but fortunately that's how long it takes for the Moon to go around to the other side, so we now have Moon, Earth, Sun.

I also mentioned this phenomena here, or you can Google on eclipse season or line of nodes for more info.

Lunar Eclipse Saturday!

Saturday is a total lunar eclipse (pointed out to me by Sclerotic_Rings as usual).

Man, I just love these things! Notice how Saturday's lunar eclipse is followed in two weeks by a partial solar eclipse. Also note how that happens again later this year (six months later) in August/September. The reason? When the Earth-Moon-Sun are aligned just right for a part of the year (line of nodes, eclipse season), they may cross each others paths for a couple weeks before and after - this means that whenever there's a solar eclipse (at a New Moon), there's a good chance of a lunar one two weeks before or after (at the Full Moon). And if there's one set on a certain date, there's a good chance six months before or after, halfway around the Sun, that it might happen again.

More info on Wikipedia.