Coming Feb. 20: Total Eclipse of the Moon

[Richard]

Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
SPACE.comThu Feb 7, 7:01 AM ET

Mark Wednesday, Feb. 20, on your calendar as "Lunar Eclipse Night," for if the weather is fair you should have no difficulty observing a total eclipse of the moon.

The eclipse will be visible wherever the moon is above the horizon during the time frame that the eclipse is taking place. As it turns out, North and South America will turned toward the moon and will be in excellent position for this sky show.

Europe, Africa and a part of western Asia will also be able to see the eclipse, although for these regions the event will take place in hours just before sunrise on the morning of Feb. 21.

All told, given clear skies, about three billion potential eclipse viewers will be able to partake in the spectacle of the full moon becoming completely immersed in the Earth's shadow.

This will be the third total lunar eclipse within the past year. The previous two favored different parts of North America, but this one will be readily visible from start-to-finish across much of the continent, weather permitting.

The total phase will last 51-minutes and begins at 10:01 p.m. EST (7:01 p.m. PST).

Because some of the sunlight striking the Earth is diffused and scattered by our atmosphere, the Earth's shadow is not completely dark. Typically there are coppery red and orange hues cast over the moon at and near totality from sunlight refracted from our atmosphere around the edge of the Earth, giving the moon the appearance of an eerie glowing ball.

As a bonus, during the eclipse the moon will be situated, in our sky, near the planet Saturn and the bright bluish star Regulus in the constellation of Leo. The effect will be to create a uniquely beautiful triangle in the sky consisting of the totally eclipsed moon, a bright naked-eye planet and one of the 21 brightest stars in the sky.

Editor's Note: SPACE.com will provide a complete eclipse viewer's guide Feb. 15.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080207/s...5t7qIDW7oF

[Sily]

Woo.... time to take a new picture with my new camera with auto stabilization!  Hopefully no blur this time.   Hope there are no clouds that night.  Hope it's not too cold out!

[DreamTime]

cool picture, Sily

[Sily]

Thanks!  :-)

[Richard]

It’s interesting they are planning on shooting down the satellite on the eclipse that saved Columbus.  

Get ready for the eclipse that saved Columbus

PARIS (AFP) — The Moon will turn an eerie shade of red for people in the western hemisphere late Wednesday and early Thursday, recreating the eclipse that saved Christopher Columbus more than five centuries ago.

In a lunar eclipse, the Sun, Earth and Moon are directly aligned and the Moon swings into the cone of shadow cast by the Earth.

But the Moon does not become invisible, as there is still residual light that is deflected towards it by our atmosphere. Most of this refracted light is in the red part of the spectrum and as a result the Moon, seen from Earth, turns a coppery, orange or even brownish hue.

Lunar eclipses have long been associated with superstitions and signs of ill omen, especially in battle.

The defeat of the Persian king Darius III by Alexander the Great in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC was foretold by soothsayers when the Moon turned blood-red a few days earlier.

And an eclipse is credited with saving the life of Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1504.

Stranded on the coast of Jamaica, the explorers were running out of food and faced with increasingly hostile local inhabitants who were refusing to provide them with any more supplies.

Columbus, looking at an astronomical almanac compiled by a German mathematician, realised that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504.

He called the native leaders and warned them if they did not cooperate, he would make the Moon disappear from the sky the following night.

The warning, of course, came true, prompting the terrified people to beg Columbus to restore the Moon -- which he did, in return for as much food as his men needed. He and the crew were rescued on June 29, 1504.

The Moon will be in total eclipse from 0301 GMT to 0351 GMT. This will be visible east of the Rocky Mountains in North America, as well as in all of Central and South America, West Africa and Western Europe. The zenith of totality is close to French Guiana.

It will be in partial eclipse from 0143 GMT to 0301 GMT, visible west of the Rockies and from the eastern Pacific, and from 0351 GMT to 0509 GMT, visible across the rest of Africa and Europe and much of South and West Asia.

Under a partial eclipse, Earth's shadow, or umbra, appears to take a "bite" out of the Moon.

The last total lunar eclipse took place on August 28 2007. The next will take place on December 21 2010.

A solar eclipse happens when the Moon swings between the Earth and the Sun.

+ Further details: (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2008.html); (http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=38834); and (http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/15357796.html).

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFJT...GmBrHVOiZA

[Polly]

I don't know why but I had trouble believing this story about Columbus and the moon.  Maybe it is because I can't believe the natives were that ignorant of celestial events.

[Polly]

It looks like I won't be seeing the eclipse tonight but that is A-okay with me.

[Sily]

Me too.  We have snow showers and clouds set for all night.  The thing is.....  :?   .... I really wanted to see the eclipse and take pictures.

I will go out around ten and just check to see if a miracle happens and there's a break in the clouds.

[Polly]

Good luck, Sily.  I hope the clouds part for you.  :D

[Polly]

Sily, I can see the eclipse happening but I am not going to hang around outside. It's too darn cold out. I can see the partial moon in a shade of pale red. I hope to see some pictures from you tomorrow.

This whole forum had grown very quiet this evening. Perhaps everyone is watching the eclipse.