If you were on the Queen’s University lawn on 12 August, squinting through paper glasses at a bite taken out of the Sun, you are allowed to feel slightly conned. Two eclipses in one August. Belfast does not usually get that.
They are not the same thing.
Two weeks ago the Moon stood in front of the Sun. That was a partial solar eclipse. From Belfast about 93% of the Sun was covered at 7.08pm. You needed proper eclipse glasses or a projection trick. Looking at it unprotected is how people damage their eyes. LoveBelfast already ran that warning. The next solar eclipse of that scale, from here, is 2090. The clouds over the Lanyon Building did what Belfast clouds do. People still cheered when a gap opened.
This one is the other way round. The Earth stands between the Sun and the Moon, and the Moon slides through our shadow. It is a partial lunar eclipse. You look at the Moon, not the Sun. No glasses. Binoculars if you want them. A kitchen window if you cannot be bothered with a hill.
Belfast times, from Timeanddate and the Royal Observatory Greenwich:
Penumbral eclipse begins 2.23am. That is the faint outer shadow. Most people will not notice it.
The useful bit starts at 3.33am, when the Moon enters the dark core of Earth’s shadow, the umbra. It starts to look as if someone has taken a bite, then a bigger bite.
Maximum is 5.12am. About 93% of the Moon sits in that dark shadow. It can look copper, rusty, even a bit red. Astronomers call that a blood moon when the colour comes through. Do not wait for a postcard. Clouds will have a vote.
Moonset in Belfast is 6.34am, low in the west. The partial phase technically runs until 6.51am, but the Moon is already gone by then. So the late show is a race against the horizon. You need a clear look west. Buildings, trees and the Cave Hill will steal it if you pick the wrong window.
The Met Office is not selling tickets. At the start of the night they had cloud sitting over most of Northern Ireland, with the cleaner early skies further south and east in England. BBC Weather said some models still gave NI a chance of breaks. The honest version: poke your head out. If it is a lid, go back to bed. If there is a hole in the west, stay with it.
How to tell them apart, for anyone still mixing them up. Solar eclipse: daytime, dangerous to stare at, Moon covering the Sun, glasses on. Lunar eclipse: night, safe to stare at, Earth covering the Moon with a shadow, glasses off. Both can be “partial.” Both can hit that 93% number from Belfast this month. That is a coincidence, not a sequel.
If you missed 12 August in the cloud, this is the apology the sky is offering. Set an alarm for 3.30. Face west. No queue on the Queen’s lawn. No cardboard glasses. Just the Moon, going dark, if the weather lets it.
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