'Spectacle of nature': Partial lunar eclipse to be seen in Irish skies 

Some 68% of the moon will disappear into the Earth's shadow “in a very rare spectacle of nature”. File picture: Peter Komka/MTI via AP

Stargazers and moon watchers are being urged to look to the skies tomorrow for the first visible Lunar eclipse since 2019.

On Friday morning, Irish people will be able to see a partial eclipse of the moon just as the sun is rising and the moon is setting.

According to Astronomy Ireland, 68% of the moon will disappear into the Earth's shadow “in a very rare spectacle of nature”.

"Everyone should watch from 6.30am to 8am as the moon goes down in the west and dawn begins to break" said David Moore, Editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and the moon are aligned with the Earth in the middle. When they are aligned exactly, the moon is entirely within the Earth's shadow resulting in a total lunar eclipse.

The partial phase – when the first 'bite' will be taken out of the moon as it enters the Earth's shadow – starts just 45 minutes before the Sun rises.

Astronomy Ireland has said that the partial phase will begin at 7.18am, when the moon will be five degrees above the west to the northwest horizon.

While Friday will be a dry day for the most part, Met Éireann has predicted that there will be plenty of cloud.

However, it has predicted some bright spells so people hoping to see the eclipse may get lucky.

According to the weather forecasting site AccuWeather, the event will be one of the final astronomy events of the year.

It says that it will be the longest partial lunar eclipse since 1440, but it is not the longest lunar eclipse in recent history – which was in 2018.

The next time that a lunar eclipse will be visible from Ireland will be in May 2022.