November Sky Event: Don't Miss The Year's Last Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

The November full moon will rise very early on Monday morning, and this time it will come with the fourth and final penumbral lunar eclipse of the year.

A penumbral lunar eclipse happens when the full moon moves into the penumbral shadow of the Earth, causing it to slightly lose its brightness for several hours. The previous penumbral lunar eclipse this year was the Independence Day Eclipse but, at the time, only about 35% of the moon's surface was dimmed by the Earth's penumbra.

This time, some 82% of the moon's surface will pass through the Earth's shadow, making it a more detectable event, Universe Today explained. Although it won't be as obvious or dramatic as the other types of eclipses, it is still one that may be worth staying up for.

This final major November 2020 sky event will begin very early at 2.32 a.m. EST and peak two hours later at 4.42 a.m. EST, Universe Today said. It will be visible in North and South America, Australia and eastern Asia.

Beaver Moon

The November full moon is known by different names including the Beaver Moon and the Oak Moon, and it will rise very early on Monday morning at 4.30 a.m. EST, NASA said. It is traditionally called the Beaver Moon by Native Americans and colonial Americans because it comes at the time of the year when beavers begin to take shelter for the upcoming winter and it was also the season to trap beavers for their pelts, the Farmer's Almanac explained.

If we go by season, the last full moon of autumn was also called the Cold Moon by the Algonquin tribes because of the long, cold nights. In Europe, the full moon before the winter solstice was also called the Oak Moon, possibly because of the ancient druid tradition of harvesting mistletoe from oak trees, according to NASA.

Other names for it also include the "Moon Before Yule," "Child Moon," "Frost Moon" and "Winter Moon." But no matter what this full moon is called in various parts of the world, people can come out very early on Monday and enjoy the penumbral eclipse while waiting for the full moon to rise.

It's still not the final eclipse for the year because December will also bring a total solar eclipse.