The total solar eclipse next month is getting all of the attention right now, but next week a different celestial event will change up the night sky in eastern North Carolina.
A penumbral lunar eclipse will start just before 1 a.m. on Monday and be over by about 5:30 that morning.
It happens when the Sun, Earth, and the Moon are imperfectly aligned, and the Earth blocks some of the Sun's light from directly reaching the Moon's surface. It will be a partial lunar eclipse.
Related content: Countdown to the eclipse; what we'll see in ENC in April and how to see it safely
If you don’t know this one is happening, you might miss it. NASA says the Moon dims so slightly that it can be difficult to notice except for near and at its maximum. That’s expected to happen at a little after 3 a.m. on Monday.
The good thing about lunar eclipses is that, unlike a solar eclipse, NASA officials say they are safe to view with the naked eye because they only reflect sunlight and don't get any brighter than a full Moon.
