Full moon and Lunar Eclipse coming in Early Hours of November 30: “beaver moon”

Penumbral eclipse, a.k.a. partial eclipse will be visible in US early Monday

On the final day of November 2020 a shining orb will enlighten the early morning skys,  due to a partial lunar eclipse occurring during the full “beaver moon”.  The nickname “Beaver Moon” stems from the fact that it occurs during the time of year when beavers build their winter dams before the coldest time of winter. 

In the early days of the nation, Algonquin Native American tribes and American colonists gave nicknames to each full moon. The names chosen were based on hunting trends, farming routines and weather conditions at the time of the year that each took place.

The fullest phase will be reached at 1:30 a.m. Pacific time. The moon will look big and bright in the sky both Sunday night and  also on Tuesday, December 1st, providing that cloud cover is not so thick as to prevent visibility. 

The eclipse spectacle will be partial, but spectacular nonetheless. The full “glide across” will take several hours and, unlike solar eclipses, the lunar variation is perfectly safe to view; though a telescope or with the naked eye.

“the moon will take 4 hours and 21 minutes to glide across the pale outer fringe (penumbra) of Earth’s shadow, never reaching the shadow’s dark umbra,” 

— Space.com astronomy writer Joe Rao

In the case of a full lunar eclipse instead of a partial one, such as this one, the entire moon would be  darkened for a short time, and give off a reddish-orange tint on the edges.

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