This partial lunar eclipse will be easy to miss, since only a very small edge of the moon will turn completely dark during the eclipse’s midpoint. For more information about this eclipse, including graphics showing how much of the moon will be obscured, read this article:
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/partial-lunar-eclipse-seotember-17-18-2024

Credit: Brad Riza/NASA

However, this will a good opportunity to study the moon’s surface, learn about future exploration, and see the planet Saturn when it's closest to the Earth. At 7:00 p.m., a talk about NASA’s upcoming Artemis program, which will return astronauts to the moon in the next few years, will be presented in the planetarium. Afterwards, an ongoing planetarium program will explain how this eclipse is happening and why it will be hard to see.

A few days before the eclipse, Saturn will be closest to the Earth for this year. When viewed from our planet, the angle of Saturn's rings changes over time, and this night will be a good one to see the rings almost edge-on.

Activities in the museum will include information sheets, coloring pages, puzzles, and live broadcasts of the eclipse with expert commentary. Weather permitting, various telescopes will be available to watch the progression of the eclipse and Saturn, and a new kind of telescope technology will show images of objects in space on a large video monitor in the museum.

The museum is always closed on Tuesdays, but the building will open at 6:45 p.m. for this event only.  If there are clouds in the sky, the activities inside the museum will be presented, but telescope observing may not be possible.