All news

St. Petersburg rather than Moscow to get better glimpse of lunar eclipse on July 16-17

Sky gazing sessions will also be organized at St. Petersburg’s Planetarium

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/. Skywatchers in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg will be luckier than those in Moscow in getting to see the upcoming partial lunar eclipse on the night of July 16-17, when the Moon will partially cross through the Earth’s dark umbral shadow.

"The Moscow Planetarium’s Sky Part will offer sky gazing sessions from 21:30 to 24:00 Moscow time for those who want to observe the partial lunar eclipse. Its visibility in Moscow will not be perfect because the Moon will not rise high enough above the horizon and the peak of the eclipse will not last very long. Apart from that, guests will be able to watch Saturn, Jupiter and binary stars," the Moscow Planetarium said on Monday.

Sky gazing sessions will also be organized at St. Petersburg’s Planetarium. "The sessions will begin at 22:30, 00:00 and 1:30 Moscow time. The weather forecasts do offer some optimism, with a few clouds in the sky here and there. The Moon will not rise high, only seven degrees above the horizon at its peak. But since it is a very big and bright celestial object, we hope the eclipse will be visible quite well," Maria Smirnova, a lab chief at the planetarium, told TASS.