The first lunar eclipse of 2010 occurs at the Moon’s ascending node. It is visible from much of the Americas, the Pacific and eastern Asia. The Moon’s contact times with Earth’s shadows are listed below.
Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 08:57:21 UT
Partial Eclipse Begins: 10:16:57 UT
Greatest Eclipse: 11:38:27 UT
Partial Eclipse Ends: 12:59:50 UT
Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 14:19:34 UT
At the instant of greatest eclipse the umbral eclipse magnitude will reach 0.5368. At that time the Moon will be at the zenith for observers in the South Pacific. In spite of the fact that barely half of the Moon enters the umbral shadow (the Moon’s northern limb dips 16.2 arc-minutes into the umbra), the partial phase still lasts 2 2/3 hours.
New England and eastern Canada will miss the entire eclipse since the event begins after moonset from those regions. Observers in western Canada and the USA will have the best views with moonset occurring sometime after mid-eclipse. To catch the entire event, one must be located in the Pacific or eastern Australia.
The June 26 partial lunar eclipse belongs to Saros 120, a series of 83 eclipses in the following sequence: 21 penumbral, 7 partial, 25 total, 7 partial, and 23 penumbral lunar eclipses (Espenak and Meeus, 2009).