This coming Wednesday evening, on 15 June 2011, there will be a total eclipse of the Moon. From southern parts of the UK, the Moon will rise totally eclipsed, and the majority of the second half of the total phase will be visible, provided observers have a clear, unobstructed south-eastern horizon. Sadly, from locations further north, with moonrise occurring later in the evening, most of the total phase will be over before the Moon rises; those in northern Scotland will miss totality entirely. Indeed, observers throughout Europe will miss the early stages of the eclipse because they occur before moonrise.

British Summer Time (BST)
Universal Time (UT)

Moonrise for Liverpool will be at 20:36 UT (21:36 BST)

The Moon first enters the outer, penumbral part of the Earth’s shadow at 17:25 UT, (18:25 BST) and the partial eclipse begins at 18:23 UT (19:23 BST)
The eclipse first becomes total at 19:23 UT, (20:23 BST) reaches maximum at 20:13 UT, (21:13 BST) and ends at 21:03UT. (22:03 BST)
The partial eclipse ends at 22:02 UT (23:03 BST) and the penumbral phase at 23:01UT (00:01 BST June 16th).

This is the first lunar eclipse of 2011, and it occurs at the Moon’s ascending node in southern Ophiuchus. As the Moon passes rather deeply through the Earth’s umbral shadow on this occasion, the total phase will last 100 minutes. The last lunar eclipse to exceed this duration was in June 2000.