Essex-Middle River, Get Ready for Shortest Lunar Eclipse of the Century

By Jaimie Cura (Patch Staff)

This Saturday, April 4, a total lunar eclipse will be the shortest one of the century, lasting five minutes or less.

Weather-wise, the National Weather Service predicts temperatures will be in the 50s in central Maryland with a chance of showers on Saturday.

When to Watch

In North America, the eclipse will begin at 6:16 a.m. Eastern time. According to NASA, the totality of the eclipse will take place over the course of 4 minutes and 43 seconds.

Because of how quickly the eclipse will take place, you may want to venture outside a little earlier to give your eyes time to adjust.

If You Miss It

The April 4 eclipse is the third in a series of four total eclipses with no partial eclipses in between them, known as a tetrad. There’s still one more to come in the series:

• April 14-15, 2014
• Oct. 7-8, 2014
• April 4, 2015
• Sept. 28, 2015

Photo by Bill Young, via flickr creative commons