Sky-watchers' Guide: Lunar Eclipse Thursday [1]

National Geographic News, By: Andrew Fazekas, 04/24/2013

The full moon will get a tiny bite taken out of it on Thursday as it undergoes one of the shallowest and shortest partial eclipses of this century. Here's what you need to know about the rare lunar event.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon align. During total lunar eclipses, the entire moon is engulfed in Earth's darkest shadow. But during partial eclipses, the moon never completely goes dark or turns red—only a portion of its disk appears to go dim.

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