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Watch the entire Beaver Moon lunar eclipse in 1 minute time-lapse

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By Elizabeth Howell
published

It was the longest partial eclipse in 580 years.

An incredible timelapse video from Los Angeles captures the Beaver Moon during its dramatic partial eclipse Friday (Nov. 19).

Taken from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the video shows the moon gradually growing darker and then at its peak (which appears to be through haze), turning a slight red. 

The Beaver Moon lunar eclipse saw the moon 97% covered by Earth's shadow at its peak at 4:02 am EST (9:02 GMT), and was potentially visible to millions of stargazers across North America, Central and South America, as well as parts of Australia, Europe and Asia. 

Related: Check out the best binoculars deals for all your lunar-viewing.

This diagram shows the stages of the partial lunar eclipse on Nov. 18-19, 2021. (Image credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio)

Even though it wasn't a true "blood moon," or total eclipse, the moon was deep enough in the Earth's darker shadow (the umbra) and turned red due to the refraction of light in our planet's atmosphere.

But as you can see in the video, the red only was visible for part of the event. The full moon first entered Earth's penumbral (its outer, fainter shadow) at 1:02 am EST (6:02 GMT), and the umbral phase began about an hour and fifteen minutes later, when the moon started to noticeably darken at its southern limb.

If you're looking to photograph the moon or prepare for the next lunar eclipse, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography. You can also check out our guide on how to photograph a lunar eclipse, as well as how to photograph the moon with a camera.

The next eclipse of the moon will be a total lunar eclipse on May 16, 2022. It will be best visible from South America and the U.S. and Canadian northeast. 

Editor's Note: If you snap an amazing night sky picture and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Live Science Contributor
Elizabeth Howell is a regular contributor to Live Science and Space.com, along with several other science publications. She is one of a handful of Canadian reporters who specializes in space reporting. Elizabeth has a Bachelor of Journalism, Science Concentration at Carleton University (Canada) and an M.Sc. Space Studies (distance) at the University of North Dakota. Elizabeth became a full-time freelancer after earning her M.Sc. in 2012. She reported on three space shuttle launches in person and once spent two weeks in an isolated Utah facility pretending to be a Martian.