The partial lunar eclipse that was also visible from Germany in the early hours of Friday morning was obscured by clouds in many places. There were thunderstorms in numerous regions, said a spokeswoman for the Haus der Astronomie (House of Astronomy) in Heidelberg. Only in isolated cases was it possible to take pictures. The view of the lunar eclipse was better in the United States, she said.
The clearly visible phase of the eclipse began in Germany at 4:33 a.m. with the Moon's entry into the Earth's umbra, according to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Vereinigung der Sternfreunde (Association of Star Friends) in Heidelberg.
As the eclipse went on, however, the Moon moved closer and closer to the horizon, and the dawn light brightened the sky. That made it harder to see the Moon. In many places it was also cloudy. The Moon's exit from the umbra at 7:53 a.m. therefore took place, as seen from Germany, long after sunrise and moonset.
The event could also be observed elsewhere in the world, for example in western Spain, in the eastern United States and Canada, and in South America. A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon, on its orbit around the Earth, moves into the shadow that the sunlit Earth casts into space.
Only a good two weeks ago, a solar eclipse was visible on the European mainland. In Germany and other parts of Europe, the Sun was only partially covered. According to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Vereinigung der Sternfreunde in Heidelberg, solar and lunar eclipses often occur shortly after one another. However, the two events are rarely visible from the same place on Earth.
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