A faint lunar eclipse known as a penumbral eclipse greeted skywatchers early Wednesday.
The penumbral eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the outer edge of the Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra,
USA Today reported.
With the height of the event occurring at a 4:48 a.m. Pacific Time, the eclipse would have been unnoticeable to many people and the type of eclipse that is often difficult to detect even with a telescope. Such events account for about 35% of all eclipses.
Altogether, Wednesday’s event will darken about 78 percent of the full moon’s southern parts,
National Geographic reported.
The eclipse, noticeable in central and western North America, coincided with a notably bright Jupiter, at -2.5 magnitude,
ScienceAlert reported. By comparison, the sun’s apparent magnitude is -27 and the brightest planet Venus appears at -5.
During Wednesday’s eclipse Jupiter “will look like a big, bright star right next to the slightly dimmed full moon,” ScienceAlert wrote.
In total, the eclipse was expected to last about four hours and 15 minutes.
Those on the East Coast missed the eclipse, as the moon had set in that area,
Space.com noted. That website described the eclipse as casting a "smudged" or "soiled" appearance on the bottom of the moon.
Another penumbral lunar eclipse will occur in September but won’t be visible from North America,
The Washington Post noted. The next total lunar eclipse will occur on Jan. 31, 2018.