Northern Hemisphere observers can watch Lunar Eclipse Friday

The full moon will get a tiny bite taken out of it tomorrow as it undergoes one of the shallowest and shortest partial eclipses of this century.

While North America will be left out of the sky show, much of the Eastern Hemisphere can see Earth's shadow brush across the outer half of the moon's surface over the course of the four-hour event. 

All the stages of the eclipse will be visible across the Indian Ocean, central Asia, western Australia, Africa, and Europe.

Because only a tiny fraction of the moon's disk will dip into the darkest shadow cone, the entire partial eclipse phase will be a challenge to observe, lasting less than a half hour for viewers, Hammergren said.

"This eclipse is distinguished, or undistinguished, by being the second shortest partial eclipse of the moon in the 21st century, lasting only about 27 minutes," he said.

When is best to watch?

The most readily visible part of the eclipse will begin at 3:54 p.m. ET (00:30 AM IST Aprox), just as the moon is straight overhead for observers in the Indian Ocean.

The deepest and most interesting part of the eclipse—during which Earth's shadow will fall on less than 2 percent of the tiny sliver of the moon's disk—occurs at 4:07 p.m. ET (00:40 AM IST Aprox.) and leaves the umbra at 4:21 p.m.

The last time such a small partial lunar eclipse occurred was in 1958, and another one like it won't occur until 2034.

But don't fret: Later this year, two more partial lunar eclipses will be visible on May 25 and October 18.

Courtesy: NGC