A telescope will bring out interesting details of the lunar surface, and even a small telescope will reveal Saturn's stunning rings. Comfortable chairs and warm clothing are good ideas. SEATTLE It may prove difficult for Puget Sound to catch a glimpse of a total lunar eclipse Sunday, thanks to a stubborn run of gloomy spring weather across the region. You don't need any special equipment to watch a lunar eclipse. The planet Saturn and the bright star Regulus will form a broad triangle with the moon's ruddy disk, according to Joe Rao, 's Skywatching Columnist. The effect is to cast all the planet's sunrises and sunsets on the moon.Ĭhristopher Columbus famously used a blood-red eclipse in 1504 to frighten natives on Jamaica into feeding his crew. The redness occurs because while the moon is in total shadow, some light from the sun passes through Earth's atmosphere and is bent toward the moon. "If there are extra particles in the atmosphere, from say a recent volcanic eruption, the moon will appear a darker shade of red." "The exact color that the moon appears depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere," according to a NASA statement. Look for the moon to possibly turn red during the total portion of the eclipse. ET on Thursday morning.įor Europe and Africa, the eclipse is a predawn Thursday event, with the moon starting entry to the umbral shadow at 1:43 Greenwich (or Universal) Time. It will be completely out of the umbral shadow at 9:09 p.m. It will be the last total lunar eclipse until 2010. About 51 minutes later, a bright scallop will appear as the moon starts emerging. A total eclipse of the moon tonight is expected to delight skywatchers across the United States and much of the world. Some 78 minutes later, the moon will slip into full eclipse. Skywatchers across most of North and South. The more dust or clouds in Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the Moon will appear. (2 min) The lunar eclipse was visible in Irwindale, Calif., on Sunday. During a lunar eclipse, the Moon turns red because the only sunlight reaching the Moon passes through Earth’s atmosphere. It will appear as though an ever-larger bite is being taken out of the moon. The blue light from the Sun scatters away, and longer-wavelength red, orange, and yellow light pass through. ET, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. The moon will enter Earth's umbral shadow (the full shadow) at 8:43 p.m. The full moon will rise on Monday, July 3, and reach peak illumination below the horizon at 7:39 a.m. Next Eclipse: Annular Solar Eclipse Sat, Oct 14. Eclipse watchers can see the Moon turn red when the eclipse reaches totality. Because the moon's orbit around Earth is not perfectly aligned with the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, eclipses do not occur at every full moon. A total lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon and its shadow covers the Moon. Eclipses occur only at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are in a perfect line.
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