During the night from 20th to 21st February 2008 a total lunar eclipse which will be visible from the whole Iberian Peninsula and both Balearic and Canary Islands will occur. It will also be completely observable from the north and west of Europe, Western Africa, South America, and the eastern area of North an Central America. Some phases of the eclipse will be visible from the rest of America and Pacific, where the Moon will rise when the event will have already started. The other way around will happen in the east of Europe and Africa, Middle East ant Western Asia, where moonset will occur while the eclipse: the more to the east, the less time the eclipse is observable. Finally, in Eastern Asia, Australia and neighbourhood, the eclipse won't be visible.
The eclipse will start at 00:35 UT, with the first contact of the Moon with Earth's penumbra. Partiality will start at 01:43 UT and totality at 03:01 UT. It will last 51 minutes. At 03:52 UT totality phase will end, and at 05:09 UT also the partial eclipse. The second penumbral phase won't end until 06:17 UT. Remember that an hour must be added to the Universal Time to find the civil peninsular time. This way, the eclipse will end in Spain a bit before the sunrise.
Phases of the eclipse
Moreover, this lunar eclipse nearly coincides in time with the opposition of the planet Saturn, which will take place on next 24th February. This way, the planet of the rings will be very near the Moon during the early morning of 21st February, showing an intense bright as it won't do again through the whole year and making even more impressive the sight.
