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Total Lunar Eclipse
v@mp writes "I noticed a few posts today about space, which reminded me that there will be a total lunar eclipse in North America and Western Europe on Jan. 20. The moon will turn a deep red color for little over an hour around 8 p.m. on the west coast and 11 p.m. on the east coast. I'll see you all "under a blood red sky"--U2. "
you're off yer nugget. the would would definitely NOT be a good place without any one of the mentioned items.
Blood red moon? I saw that shit in "The 7:th sign" w. Demi Moore. Guess we'll find some use for the y2k bunkers finally!
> Let's face it the prophecies within the bible are real. Many have already taken place (ie. the holocaust). Ack, not this again! Have you ever heard of the phrase "life imitating art?" It's very real, and happens every day now. Don't believe me? Consider all the fads/trends/shit that people do to be "popular" (After 'Titanic' became mainstream, imitations of the heart-shaped brooch sold like hotcakes). Also, people see prophesies as more of a guideline on how the future *SHOULD* go, since no one likes an unpredictable future. An example is how *many* of the new technological advances get their inspiration from science fiction (cloning, implants, cyborgory, etc.).
Oops, lets try that again..
> Let's face it the prophecies within the bible are real. Many have already taken place (ie. the holocaust).
Ack, not this again! Have you ever heard of the phrase "life imitating art?" It's very real, and happens every day now. Don't believe me? Consider all the fads/trends/shit that people do to be "popular" (After 'Titanic' became mainstream, imitations of the heart-shaped brooch sold like hotcakes). Also, people see prophesies as more of a guideline on how the future *SHOULD* go, since no one likes an unpredictable future. An example is how *many* of the new technological advances get their inspiration from science fiction (cloning, implants, cyborgory, etc.).
Sure, take a look: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap9 90830.html
First, if it ain't malignant, it ain't cancer.
Second, the reasons why Australia has the highest incidence per capita of skin cancers include the following:
(a) Most Australians with skin cancer have north european ancestry and accordingly have both pale skin and really crappy DNA repair mechanisms, demonstrated by moles and freckles;
(b) Many Australians enjoy the outdoors, not just the beach, and get outside a lot from a very young age. Suntan lotion was considered effete by many rural Australians until very recently. Since the ultraviolet flux hits them early, they have more time to develop skin cancers before something else kills them, and those that get it will tend to get it at a younger age; and
(c) Australia is closer to the equator than practically any nation currently consisting of a population of mostly northern european ancestry.
This doesn't mean we should underestimate problems with ozone holes, but the situation is a little more complex owing to at least the factors enumerated above.
My background, in case you're wondering, is 3 1/2 years of medical school, a degree in Anatomy with distinction and two terms with the Environmental Protection Service of Environment Canada where I worked on risk assessment models.
So the whole idea of Lucifer ruling for a millenium after the Rapture(TM) is just God avoiding a wrongful dismissal claim?
If that's the case, can I bring a product liability claim first since the universe is defective and kills its users?
No flames intended Technos, I was just bein' silly. And how bout that, AC was on the right track.
I guess I hand waved a bit too much in my description of scattering. The longer wavelengths continue mostly ahead, but are still diffused somewhat by the effect(into a gaussian about 15 degrees wide, at a guess) and some is 'smeared' into the ubmral reigon.
Again, you can see much the same effect by looking at the nice bright red sky of a sunset long after the sun is actually obscured. It may help to remember that for the long, low paths involved the atmosphere is about as transparent as the 'lens' of a frosted light bulb. Look at any distant mountain for proof. It's not unreasonable to think of the sun as illuminating the atmosphere, and the atmosphere in turn illuminating the eclipsed moon. No (significant) refraction is involved, just scattering. Throw a few spoons of milk into a fish tank and grab a flashlight if you want to play around and see how it works (no fish, please!)
-- csh, who gets _way_ too deep when asked "Uncle, why is the sky blue?"
Worth noting, for scale. Chromatic abberation is responsible for the tiny separation between the red and green images of the sun that is responsible for the 'green flash' if you're so lucky as to see it. Photos show the flash as being a small fraction of the sun's disk in size or a fraction of a degree. Not nearly enough separation to give the moon the _very_ red color it often has at eclipse, no matter where you put it in the slightly converging beam focused by the atmosphere.
jon katz'sss real name is...... natalie portman.
-AC
That's pretty spooky. You don't have a brother named Damien, do you?
I'd guess it is 11pm Argentina (supposedly you've got that info first), 10pm Chile and midnight in Brazil. It is that or the earth spins the other side around in the Southern Hemisphere. :)
If God is so almighty, why does he allow the devil to exist?
B&W? I thought the point was to see the blood red quality.
Viewing an eclipse of the sun by the Earth as seen from the moon would not be as pretty as an eclipse of the sun by the moon as seen from Earth. The angular size of the moon in nearly equal to the angular size of the sun, thus during a solar eclipse the moon just covers up the photosphere so that the much dimmer corona (solar atmosphere) is visible. (When a solar eclipse occurs when the moon is at apogee (farthest from Earth) the moon doesn't totally cover the sun and you get an annular eclipse). The Earth is just over 3.5x the size of the moon so the Earth would cover most of the corona as well as the photosphere. It still might look pretty cool though. I'm willing to check one out if you can get us a ride to the moon.
Actually, it is in the book of Mathew, specifically around chapter 24, where Jesus teaches his apostles about the sign of the last days and the sign of his presence.
Lunar eclipses have been happening on many occasions, and therefore it does not seem logical that the Bible would refer to some ordinary lunar eclipse, especially that the Bible refers to the "darkening" of the moon as a one-time event. What it might refer to, could be symbolic, but most likely to an eclipse of a much grander magnitude, with other consequences. The account also says that sun will be darkened, and the moon along with stars will not give their light.
But, here is another interesting point. As posted by some already, many twist prophecies to determine "the end", however if you look more accurately in the Scriptures, Jesus himself stated that "neither the son (referring to himself), nor the angels know, but only the Father" - this means that humans cannot predict anything that concerns "the end of the system of things" - they can only try to their disappointment and embarassment.
I do post this as anonymous coward because my registration info was not sent to my email yet, but here is my email if anybody wishes to comment: max.b@home.com
from BRS (Bible Retreival System, a UNIX commandline KJV Bible program)
bible(KJV) [Re21:23]> ??moon
Searching for 'moon'... [51 refs]
bible(KJV) [Re21:23]> ?and blood
Searching for 'blood'... [375 refs]
[3 refs in combined list]
bible(KJV) [Re21:23]> ?v
Viewing References [3]:
Joel 2
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the
great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Acts 2
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before
that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Revelation 6
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great
earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became
as blood;
The Bible explains this question very logically.
In brief, picture this analogy: you own a company. You hire one employee. Eventually, this employee earns himself a good reputation, and is promoted to a high position. Then, one day, this employee claims that he can run the company much better than you. What do you do? You could of course, fire the employee - but what would it show? It could show that this employee was probably correct, and other employees could start doubting your authority.
Also picture yourself with unlimited resources. Another way you can solve the conflict: You let the employee run the company for a specific period of time. And only by time you can prove that only you, and nobody else, can operate the company the best, and most efficiently. Then, if you fire the employee at the end, nobody will question your authority, or righteousness of your actions.
This is a very simple example, but there exists a similarity between it and the real issue of why God allows the devil to exist. Neither was devil created as devil by God, nor will devil exist forever.
My email: max.b@home.com
The "ozone hole" may well be a naural phenomenon. There's just not enough peleometerological data to say anything at this point. How can we draw conclusions about what caused the ozone thinning over the antartic when no one can tell me if it's even going to rain next week?
GMT as a universal time standard may not exist, but I can assure you that we in the UK still use GMT as our winter time :)
The picture of the viewing conditions is very cool. Here in Texas we should have perfect viewing conditions. Can I see the eclipse in Texas?
I'm not sure that you're very accurate when you suggest a difference of a 'few percent' in the thickness of the ozone layer at the site of the 'ozone hole'. Nevertheless, because I'm a pretty pedantic person, I have to reply that I do consider a difference of a few percent in the thickness of a wall to be a hole in the right circumstances. For example, if you were to drive in a nail and pull it out, it would leave a hole. It's still a hole even if it doesn't go all the way through.
Also, who exactly are these 'experts' you've consulted that don't know the cause of the ice ages? True, they don't have detailed weather maps of the times in question, but I thought it was generally agreed that the ice ages were caused by variances in the Earth's tilt over time and variances in the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, among other factors, which individually produce small variances in the Earth's temperature, but can converge together to have a much greater effect at times. Anyway, that's what I remember from my geology course. Seemed to make quite a lot of sense.
As for California, you may not be aware of this, but areas of California, like the area around LA, tend to have very still air all the way up to high altitudes. This makes these areas very good for astronomy when the smog isn't too bad. The problem they have is that the smog collects and doesn't blow away very easily. LA smog has been and continues to be a real safety and health hazard. That's why California is worrying: they have a real problem! Like, duh!
as written in the book of Rev.06 "...and the moon became as blood; And the stars ". Also, there are documented incidents of "poisonous tides", or a "crimson tide" where hordes of micro-organisms breed so fast they can actually turn parts of the ocean syrupy, red, and smelly. It has been known to happen in the Nile river too. So all you need is a prophet taking advantage of the situation, shouting "Let my people go!" to a superstitious potentate and there you have it. The Scarlet Pimpernel
Will a person in south america not be be able to view this as well. They see the same moon as us in NA do they not?
Its *that* time of her cycle?
Since the moon is wholly within the umbral region of the earth's shadow, the only light source to reflect off the moon (ignoring starlight) *must* be from the sun. Therefore this light *must* be being *refracted* by the Earth's atmosphere. And if this much of a "lens" is in operation, so too must chromatic abberation.
Hey all, I happen to have a digital camera lying
:)
around and will try to post occasional pics of
the eclipse. I've set up a page at:
canadaeclipse.homepage.com
Try not to overload it otherwise I won't be able
to upload pics
ciao -Rob-
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/01/07/221221 7&mode=thread Yeah, reminders are good. I was surprised that this was originally posted so early, instead of a day or two ahead. But it was already posted. Zen - who is at work & can't remember his passwd
Joel 2:30-31 -- "I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD."
I have lately learned that I'm in charge of my local weather. I don't know why but I'm either a _very_ good weatherman or what I want to happen does happen for some reason.
Sorry about the lack of rain in the midwest lately, a friend was building their basement and requested 'no rain for 2 months'.
Kneel before tovarish Klintonkov! He is Lucifer incarnate!
Its all part of the plan... need I say more?
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
I suppose a person has a right to believe whatever they want to. I take the Bible pretty much at face value, I mean there are probably some things that have been altered over the ages but I don't believe it to be simply the result of someone's overly vivid imagination. Let's face it the prophecies within the bible are real. Many have already taken place (ie. the holocaust). Most slashdotter's are probably laughing their a**** off right now but you have to read the writing on the wall as I see it. I'm not a doomsdayer or anything but I think it is wise to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
"Get your domain name for only $45"
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
The real reason they will not be able to see the full eclipse is because it is SUMMER down there and WINTER up here!
Sheesh!
Everybody knows that the full eclipse only happens in Winter.
On a more serious note. Wasn't there a South Park episode about a full lunar eclipse?
A GIANT SPACE DRAGON IS GOING TO TRY TO EAT THE MOON TONIGHT, AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ALL THE EXCITEMENT IS ABOUT?!?
Hmmmm, I wonder if seeing a full lunar eclipse will make you petrified?
If c.a. were responsible you would expect the hues of eclipses to change as the moon's ecentric orbit carries it closer to and further from the Earth. They don't
The reddish color of lunar eclipses is instead caused by (Riemann?, Mie?) scattering of light as it passes through the atmosphere. To a half-assed approximation, blue light is preferentially scattered to the sides, leaving more of the red to continue ahead and illuminate the moon.
This is exactly the effect that causes sunny skies to be blue and sunrises and sunsets to be red. In fact you can think of the redish eclipsed moon as being illuminated by the light of all the sunrises and all the sunsets all around the day/night line. Not an original thought but sort of a pretty image.
What this means is that the color of the eclipsed moon does depend on 'pollution', just as the color of sunsets does, but the pollutants in question are mostly high stratospheric aresols of volcanic dust. In fact, this will be one of the first 'normal' eclipses in quite a while, since most of the gunge from Pinatubo et al has finally settled out. Just like we're no longer seeing those nasty 'tangerine' sunsets we've had for so many years.
-- csh, who's too shy to get an account.
Note: Above description of scattering is a big ol' hand wave. If anyone gives a fsck post and I'll grab a reference and get the details right.
We *did* have a lunar eclipse last summer. Late July I think. I saw it well (but had to get up at 4 in the morning). It wasn't total, but still cool.
I do hope we get a break in the clouds tonight. The beginning of this week was perfectly clear, now the clouds are in and it's raining. CRAP. But it's supposed to clear off again, so maybe there's hope.
Posted by NJViking:
It was amazing! I think totality was earlier than 11 pm though because when I came out, a bright crescent was appearing on the right-hand side.
It didn't go totally dark, the moon was a kind of dark amber colour. Like the color of stout when held up to a light.
NJViking
Try this: http://defiant.festing.org:8080/geekcam .jpg Not perfect; my Nikon 900s at max zoom, which is still horrible. But I'm saving the images as fast as they come in and will probably stitch together an animation of it.
Sorry about not closing out my a tag there. I feel *stupid* now.
Yeah, no kiddin. It's freakin snowing here. :( :D
Time for me to buy an airplane!
jd wrote:
> However, I can't believe that the entire
> northern hemisphere has got all excited
> over something that isn't at least a -little-
> unusual, so can someone fill me in on what
> makes this different?
If you think this is bad, you should have seen it when our calendar rolled over from 1999 to 2000 years!
Yes. There is. But there would be a lot of stuff that happened *before* that that hasn't happened yet. =) So you can feel safe. :) ;)
(try reading the book instead of half-remembering it.
It is so cold, I think I'm going to freeze solid into some kind of statue. You know, like I'm petrified.
Intellicast.com is the best online source for weather information, especially stuff like the lunar eclipse. The storm will not let up until tomorrow.
On the StarCast page they list the viewing conditions for tonight's lunar eclipse.
--Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
"Computers are nothing but a perfect illusion of order" -- Iggy Pop
Regardless, all is clear up here in northeastern Alberta!!! The moon has risen and I have my camera all ready.
You know, it is also my birthday. I was thinking of posting a message similar to this, but instead I will just sulk. Maybe all /.ers who's birthday is 20 Jan should unite? *grin*
My UID is the product of 2 primes.
Here's a question for the slashdot astronomy fraternity.
What does the earth look like when viewed from the moon during a total lunar eclipse ?
Has anyone ever seen a photo of that ?
When you view the total solar eclipse of the sun by the earth from the moon, you have one factor that you don't have the other way around. That is the earth's atmosphere. You'll get to see a big red ring that is basically the same effect as a sunset. This is where the moon gets that reddish color.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
I've seen two before, and despite fairly clear skies on both occasions, and despite the fact that I saw it in totality, I somehow failed to see the "blood" redness that people have mentioned. Somebody told me once that the colour was to do with the amount of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. Any ideas on that?
Oh yeah, and we need some forum to help decide what to do with the numpties who post all this crap at the start of articles... ugh....
--Remove SPAM from my address to mail me
I'll see you all "under a blood red sky"--U2."
;) And the Mortal cover of it kicks more ass.
Actually this line is better:
"I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky and the moon turns red over One Tree Hill" - U2 'One Tree Hill'
That's probably an even more ominous, religiously overtoned and appropriate verse/song. Definatly one of the best U2 songs ever
"Fighting the underpants gnomes since 1998!" "Bruce Schneier knows the state of schroedinger's cat"
Bunch of ACM guys and I dragged a couch out to the sidewalk and watched it. It was pretty cool, no really it is -10 degrees F here. I think I am frosbit, damn moon.
Um, I've got a DC215 and 32MB memory card. However, I don't see how I'd automate it... And besides, it's snowing out, which means I probably won't be able to see it. Grr. :(
Moo.
Revelation 2:13
---------
To hell with you, I never liked you, you are no friend of mine...
I was looking out from under some trees at the blood moon with my father. He is a nurse at a local hospital, and he pointed out, that through the binoculars, and through the trees, that the moon looks like the back of the eyeball. The trees look like veins against the moon. Just a thought :D
In case of Emergency, Curl up in the Fetal position, and lick a Bible for comfort!
somehow, even before i read your email address, i knew you were from rochester, can't imagine how though. i must be sike-ick
are you a csh'r?
i have walked down train tracks, walked down train tracks, drunk at 3 a.m. it not magic, it's no great trick, w
in agricultural areas, such as where I used to live in Indiana, the moon turns deep red pretty often when on the horizon due to excessive amounts of dust in the air from farming and the angle at which you are viewing the moon (similar to why sunsets are redish). Not too out of the ordinary unless you are in an urban area.
Now that's a copout answer....
Which begs the question, if "God" is truly omnipotent and omnibenevolent, then why does he feel the need to go through all of these little games in the firstplace. Christians like to thrown around the notion that God sacrificed his only son so that humans could be absolved of their sins, blah blah blah...but if god is omnipotent, then this whole little game of human suffering and sin seems to contradict the second attribute of the Christian god, that of omnibenevolence, no? The devil exists because God allows him to exist, but if god really does want nothing but happiness for his creations, why doesn't he just cut through the bull and stop playing perverse little games?
Why would it? Tidal patterns are affected by the moon's gravitation pull, which has nothing to do with the fact that there is a shadow passing over it
actually, global warming does have basis in fact. see the Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) experiment, which measures the increase in temperature of the world's oceans. this kind of measurement is not subject to the kind of transients that confuse most people trying to draw conclusions about global warming from weather data.
it does look kinda red, from here in Indiana. but what amuzes me most is that i stayed outside to watch it for a full 55 minutes. tempreture: 0 degress. Windchill: -36 degrees. yes, those are ferenhent.
I too think it looks like an eye ball. For the first time in my life, the moon actually looks 3-D! Usually it looks too flat for a ball.
We anti-christ would like to think that this is the day that we come out to party. Since most anti-christ admire the moon rather than the sun, could this possibly be a day for non-christians? Please?
We're sure to see dozens of pictures of tonight's moon, but has anyone ever taken a picture of the EARTH during a solar eclipse (I mean from the moon's point of view, of course)? It would presumably be a brilliant red circle, and I'd love to see it. Of course, such a picture could be taken any time, not just during an eclipse, since the earth's always blocking the sun somewhere.
The eclipse will be visible from all of the Americas, including Central and South. São Paulo time, it will start at 01:01, reach mid-eclipse at 02:44 and end at 04:25, all AM.
from the under-a-killing-moon dept.
:-P
Ah, that brings back memories. That game kicked ass. Ran kinda slow on my 386 though.
Go figure.
-Jordan Henderson
This lunar eclipse will be the first since the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines not to have its color changed by ash from eruption.
This lunar eclipse will be the first since the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines not to have its color changed by ash from that eruption.
Damn lunatic!
;)
anyone interested should be able to watch the eclipse tonight on the internet at eclipse.visi.net because a local isp and museum are setting up a web cam.
Good question. Traditional Christianity has a hard time answering this question (I have asked it also). Not that I'm against Christianity (I'm actually Christian myself), I just don't subscribe to "mainstream" beliefs. But I just thought I would tell you that that is an excellent question.
A longer answer than you needed, really. :-) I don't know if anyone has ever been on the moon during an eclipse, but I doubt it for various reasons. Whatever.
Oh it's much worse than that. A tight correlation of mean terrestrial temperature with overall solar activity has been observed over time scales from months to millenia, but it gets overlooked in favor of computer modelling of greenhouse gas production that ignores water (the predominate greenhouse "gas" in our atmosphere) and has a cause-and-effect problem (the temperature goes up decades before the CO/CO2 buildup is supposed to have taken place, and then levels off) that's skipped over.
I'm starting to understand how Galileo felt.
Since no one seems to have posted these details, the umbral phase of the eclipse, which is the fun part to watch, begins at 3:01 UT on the 21st (= 7:01 p.m. PST, 10:01 p.m. EST on the 20th). The eclipse is total from 4:05 to 5:22 UT (= 8:05 to 9:22 p.m. PST, 11:05 p.m. to 12:22 a.m. EST). The umbral phase ends at 6:26 UT (= 10:26 p.m. PST, 1:26 a.m. EST). The Moon is in the penumbra (where the Earth only partly covers the Sun as seen from the Moon) about two hours longer, but this is difficult to detect. I strongly recommend not waiting for totality to look. The partial phases add a lot to the drama.
One note regarding the July 16 eclipse: though the partial phases will be visible throughout much of the western U.S., only those on the coast of California will witness totality, and only for a few minutes at most before moonset.
Powers&8^]
Powers&8^]
Lets hope we won't be deluged by old 80s TV movie stars roaming the streets...
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
I kind of interested on how this will affect tidal patterns. Also there is all the buzz about "Loons" and how the human body reacts during full moons and other moon related events. I know that just because the sun is in a different spotbut the news will be doing all their little stories on it, It'll be fun to watch.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
I don't know. The way I heard it, the Bible has undergone tons of revision. For example, during the days of the Roman Empire, I know several alterations were made to make the Bible more consistent. I think that's how the concept of the trinity came about.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's a valuable text, in the same way the Greek Myths are valuable. I also suspect Christ actually existed. Whether he was a divine being... I wouldn't know.
Well, the skys were 100% clear from Charleston, SC...but IMHO, I thought the eclipse was relatively boring. I want to see a total solar eclipse. I've seen partial but never total. Back in August, Romania got the best view of a total solar...then I showed up there a month later...but I was too late.
Connah
Connah
"Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for this change to take effect."
Isn't there somewhere in Revelations that it prophecies of the Moon turning to Blood or something to this effect. Correct me if I am wrong. Makes you begin to wonder doesn't it?
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
"Get your domain name for only $45"
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
Stranger in a Strange Land is one of the best books I have ever read - But different people get different things from it. I am not a religious person - so I took it one way - but a church going person would probably get an entirely different message from it.
BTW - Have you read the newer (uncut) release of the book or the first (extremely cut) release? I have read both and prefer the uncut version myself.
I posted this on 1-8-2000. Check it out here: http://slashdot.org/article.pl? sid=00/01/07/2212217
A quick look in The Observer's Handbook reveals that Most of North America won't be able to see the eclipse. The only people with a half-decent view are those living near the west coast, and they'll only get to see the first partial phases before the moon sets.
Places with views of the entire eclipse are: Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, most of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, most of the Pacific islands, and Antarctica.
Clear skies,
Geoff
Actually, airborne pollutants make lunar eclipses darker. The effect, however, isn't noticible unless there are huge amounts in the air. So far, the only things that have been able to do this are volcanic eruptions. There having been no recent eruptions, this eclipse is really, really bright.
The bright redness of the moon makes me wonder what the view looks like from there. The sun eclipsed by the massive earth, which is surrounded by a ring of red fire.
Clear skies,
Geoff
True, but can your 35mm do timelapse shots (not locking the shutter open)? does it have 191 exposures? Is developing it free?
Make Seven
Username taken, please choose another one.
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/
Then put in the correct time to see the earch from
the moon! The earth disappears!
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?tbody=
Crazy address! But try it out!
This
Worry not! Another perhaps better lunar eclipse is coming this Summer(I think July). I'm quite sure that members of The Astronomy Connection in the SF Bay area (who post at http://www.seds.org/TAC/) will be displaying astroimages. Check them out if you are so inclined.
The tropospheric prevailing winds in the Northern hemisphere being from the north, the US's pollutants end up in the vicinity of the equator, where convection moves them into the stratosphere. From there they diffuse more or less equally (I believe) to the poles, and are trapped there by the circumpolar jet streams. Since the antarctic is much drier than the arctic, more of the pollutants stay in the upper atmosphere there than in the north.
disclaimer: I do physics, not climatology.
Quantum mechanics: the dreams that stuff is made of.
Personally, I'm going to be on my back patio listening to "Low Red Moon" by Belly and staring into space.
(Note: There are no x's in my email address.)
WOW
So...--------------------------------------- Explain to me how gravity fits in. **BD**
Back to my illustration of employee and employer. So, this one employee you hired says he can run the company better than you can, and he makes the claim in front of all other employees working for your company. Now, if you fire the employee who questions your authority, what will other employees think? Will they not think that maybe he was right? Maybe, after all, you really don't know how to run the company well enough?
And the smart way is to let the employee control your company for a period of time. And you also want to give sufficient amount time, so that no one could say "well, you didn't give him enough time to prove his case."
And, it's true, God wants happiness for his people. That is why the devil will not exist forever, but only for a period of time - a period long enough for God to prove that He is the only Sovereign Ruler of the universe. (Devil's removal would parallel the employee being fired).
As for the subject of why God sacrificed his only-begotten Son for mankind's sin - it is too deep to be explained in a few lines. I would be glad to explain things via email if you wish so. (My email max.b@home.com)
Great. Thanks for posting this. Now they're going to /. the solar system's servers, and I'm not going to be able to connect to watch. Thanks again guys.
This
Actually, it probably wouldn't look like a solar eclipse, or at least not the kind that we're used to seeing pictures.
One of the reasons solar eclipses (on Earth) look so spectacular comes from a rather interesting little coincidence. The moon and the sun subtend nearly the same solid angle (they appear to be about the same size from Earth). So during a solar eclipse, the moon blocks out the surface of the sun nearly perfectly, allowing you to see solar prominences as well as the sun's corona. Also, there are such things as annular eclipses which occur when the moon is a little further away (and therefore appears smaller) and as a result the moon doesn't completely block out the sun as seen from earth, instead the sun appears as an annulus around the moon.
On the moon, what you would get is the reverse of an annular eclipse, the earth will appear much larger than the sun, and will completely cover it during totallity. However, sunlight refracting through the earth's atmosphere could be just as spectacular a sight...but I don't think anyone's seen such a thing. I suspect that some of the sun's corona might be visible as well, but I haven't done the calculation, so I don't really know for sure.
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So it's going to be a bit brighter, this time. That, in itself, doesn't sound particularly exciting.
However, I can't believe that the entire northern hemisphere has got all excited over something that isn't at least a -little- unusual, so can someone fill me in on what makes this different?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
The eclipse will also be visible in south america (at least that's what the newspaper says).
11PM Argentina, 10PM brazil, midnight Chile, other countries adjust as needed.
Hot grits in the pants, naked, and petrified. What more could one ask for?
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Whoa, a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse at the same time! It almost makes me wish for the end of the world, just so that I can see what it's like to live in a different geometric system.
"The moon is red and bleeding
The sun is burned and black
The book of life is silent
No turning back" - Iron Maiden
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They certainly should be able to see it in the southern hemisphere! Unlike solar eclipses (where the moon's shadow only covers a small part of Earth), lunar eclipses are widely observable because you are watching the Earth's shadow cover the Moon. The real difference is that solar eclipses are seen when *you* are covered by the moon's shadow, lunar eclipses are seen when the moon is covered by the Earth's shadow. It's much easier to see the shadow cast by an object than to lie within that same shadow.
;) (no, really, it is! or at least appears to be)
And, as you state, it *is* the same moon, it's just upside down
Consider the fact that there have been (literally)
hundreds (if not more than a thousand) total lunar eclipses in the past 2000 years, I'm not all that worried. Assuming it stays clear, this will be my fourth total lunar eclipse. I'm all for them!
Eric
Really only the former suggestion would make for an interesting loop. Onset to totality takes around an hour, during which you see the Earth's shadow creep across the disc of the Moon. During totality, not all that much happens. The moon is brick red. That's about it. A great picture, but not worth making a loop out of it.
Eric
I beg to differ. Hot grits with no pants is just not the same.
To explain, I must necessarily digress. Perhaps you have heard of the fine old sport of Ferret Legging. If you have not, do yourself a favor, and follow the link.When you return, the connection should be clear. Hot grits with no pants is no substitute for hot grits down the pants. Or it that hot grits is no substitute for a ferret? Or that one must never pour hot grits on a ferret down one's pants?
Oh hell. Now you've got me all hot, flustered, and confused.
I'm going to go back out and watching the eclipse. Besides, Natalie Portman is complaining that she's getting cold out there, all alone.
Amazing!
If you aren't lucky enough to have a computer set up on the balcony, from which you can see the eclipse taking place (as some of us are), get the heck off Slashdot and go outside! It's worth it, if the sky is clear where you are, no matter how cold and windy it is out there.
What a fantastic show!
--Ravenfeather, freezing off his fingers to bring you this content-free news report.When I heard about this from a friend last week, I looked for a webpage. I didn't find the one listed in the above article but I did find a page (also on nasa.gov) that listed all lunar eclipses for 2000. However, all the times listed on that page were listed as UT. What does UT stand for, Universal Time? And is it somehow different than GMT? The GMT times listed in the above article are the same as the UT times listed on the page I read previously.
It seems chances to see it in Europe are bad, at least according to the weather forecast. I hope someone will take some good pictures of a red moon and make them available soon (digital or not)! That eclipse site only had small GIF's ;-(
The exact times are:
The times are given un universal coordinated time and apply to 2000/01/21. Add or substract your time zone correction.
The time, of course, does not depend on the place. The eclipse is visible from wherever on Earth it happens to be night at the time in question. (Naturally, since there is an eclipse, the moon is full, so it is night precisely when the moon is visible, atmospheric perturbations excluded.)
The last total lunar eclipse visible from the United States occured on Sept. 26, 1996. North Americans won't have another opportunity to see a total lunar eclipse until May 16, 2003. However, on July 16, 2000, Hawaii, Australia and Asia will see the longest total lunar eclipse in 140 years (since 1859). It will last 1 hour and 47 minutes.
At least according to the Associated Press, folks on the west coast will also be able to view the total eclipse on July 16. I'm less likely to go with the AP on this one, though.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
There's not much more special about this particular eclipse, but don't discount the general interest in eclipses of all kinds.
People usually hate feeling small, but they still get a big kick out of experiencing the wonders of the cosmos (cue Carl Sagan and his billions of stars). People have been awed by eclipses, be they solar or lunar, for millennia. Think of it as a chance to poop on Aristotle's grave regarding his immutable heavens and heavenly bodies.
At least it's something more worthwhile than a mere date roll-over in an arbitrary calendar.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
How about polution checks on the shit people spout through their mouths?? *grin* - Can you call NP posts pollution? :o)
The USA creates 80% of the worlds pollutants, now I'm sorry but whichever way you look at it that can't be good, and is provenly unnecessary. If every other country can manage to cut down the so can the USA, and there is no reason for them not to do so.
I do however agree with the point that Global Warming is a catchphrase and still has no real basis in fact, but that doesn't excuse causing massive increases in asthma, cancers and other illnesses by pumping out tonnes of carcinogens into the atmosphere. You can't just say 'well global warming isn't proven so why do anything about pollution' it so much more complicated than that.
Yup, cloudy here too. You'd think Bill G or Paul A could pay to get some clear skies or something.
...
And I've got a rooftop waiting to be used, with a fairly clear view of the night sky
Will in Seattle
Now, we could easily get rid of all polution overnight. Just turn off all the factories, power plants, and automobiles, and, poof, no more pollution. That's not going to happen, of course, because the result would be widespread devastation. The point is that rational public policy demands a balance between protecting our environment, on the one hand, and protecting our economy on the other. Ridiculous overstatements about the amount of pollution (even if they are probably based more in ignorance than in malice, which I think is likely here) do not further the cause of rational policymaking, and the original poster was right to condemn them.
Finally, just out of curiousity:
I'm confused. Is the "*grin*" supposed to cause this not to be a rude comment? If so, it doesn't work, in my opinion.
-r
A good B/W process film gets much more striking results. Granted, all the technical photographic knowledge I have comes from the courses I took in 'crime scene photography' and 'photographic documentation of evidence', but I have done telescopic moon shots before, and I was much more satisfied by the B/W stuff than the colour process shots.
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I stand corrected.
Please ignore me for the rest of the day.
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All are very good points! But if you wanted a hard copy of said digital photo, you'd need a very good laser or inkjet and some good photo paper. How much is photo paper these days? Probably comparable with developing a couple of exposures.
For fine timelapse of a dramatically moving subject I can just use multiple exposures with a shorter exposure time. Locking the shutter open only works for very, very fast action. But at 1 minute intervals I don't need either. Shoot off 24 on a timer, swap the body out for a new one, change the film, come back in twenty minutes and repeat. I'd have to rewind the following mechanism on my antique telescope every half hour anyway.
The only real difference is that I get the expensive hard copy by default, which I like, and you get an inexpensive digital one.
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1. There is only one moon. Everyone (on earth)sees the same moon. 2. Yes, you will see the eclipse, but it will not be even close to total. The issue with completeness of the eclipse is how many degrees from the equator you are and what time it is when the shadow crosses the moon. Eastern Europe won't see the eclipse; the moon will not be above the horizon. South America will see a moon with a shadow across the top half. (Depending on where you are. The farther north you are, the more of an eclipse you will get).
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Digital camera? Please! Plain 'ol 35mm with a decent 1200 B/W. (NOT colour process B/W) If I use the digital camera, I get a 1600x1200 image. If I use REAL FILM and run the results on a flatbed, I get images three times sharper and five times larger.
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I'm sure this'll get moderated down...
:-)
I don't know. The way I heard it, the Bible has undergone tons of revision. For example, during the days of the Roman Empire, I know several alterations were made to make the Bible more consistent. I think that's how the concept of the trinity came about.
Ummmm...where did you hear that? Most of what I've read confirms that the accuracy of modern Bible translations (e.g. NIV or NASB) is exceptionally good. They're based on Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic manuscripts that remained accurately copied for hundreds of years. For example...
"The impact of this discovery [the Dead Sea Scrolls] is vividly illustrated in the virtual duplication of the Isaiah scroll (dated 125 B.C.) in the Masoretic text of Isaiah (A.D. 916) written 1000 years later. This demonstrates the unusual accuracy of the copyists of the Scripture over a thousand year period. Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, only seventeen letters have been questioned. Ten of these letters are a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as a conjunction. The remaining three letters comprise the word "light", which is added in verse 11 and does not greatly affect the meaning. Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission-and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage. Comparisons of other Bible passages show even closer duplications." (from this site)
While the word "Trinity" is never seen in the Bible, the concept is evident throughout the N.T. Some (me included) would argue that it's evident in the O.T. as well, but that's going WAY off topic! Suffice it to say, many liberal scholars try to argue that since the word isn't in the Bible, the Trinity is an invention of man.
I also suspect Christ actually existed. Whether he was a divine being... I wouldn't know.
That's good, since historically there's no question that there existed a person name Jesus of Nazareth, who was called the Christ. So the question remains, is Christ a divine being? I am convinced He is. But investigate for yourself, the answer is there!
And in a vain (too late!) attempt to bring this back on-topic, there are many who bend some of the biblical prophecies to try to determine the time/place for some events. The blood-red moon is a sign pointing to the final judgment, but a red moon is not an uncommon event (rare, but not once-in-a-lifetime). So, yes, this lunar eclipse might be a sign of the end. Then again, it might not. Regardless, I'm ready!
JimD
JimD
Would you call a region of a wall that is a few percent less thick a "hole"?
I wouldn't even call it a wall. It's a fluid region of gas that changes depending on season and weather conditions that acts as a filter for UV-B and other radiation.
"experts" can't even explain the causes of the ice ages.
Nice straw man. What does meteorological history have to do with current climatic changes caused by emitted chemicals? Have a look at this to learn how ozone loss happens.
California wants to do just this to pretty much *anything* with a gas engine in it.
Also look at to learn that California is in the top bracket of states ranked by hazardous air pollutants.
a few percent less thick a "hole"?
A few percent less than what? Measured when? The actual value ranges from 11-30% during the year, measured by deviation from the levels during the 1960s.
Over Australia, according to the 1997 State Of the Environment report, ozone levels hit about 89%. This means "the increase in erythemal UV-B radiation (the most damaging for plants and animals) is expected to be about 13%". Don't forget that zooplankton and phytoplankton have no protection from UV-B. If they start dying, the ocean has big problems.
Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, both malignant and non-malignant.
Don't laugh.
I'm not.
On CNN, they had some astronomy "expert" explain that the redness of the moon during totality was due to POLLUTANTS in the atmosphere! Puh-leeze. No mention of chromatic abberation. The publich will glaze over with that explanation, but smog? Yeah, they'll buy that! And it'll keep them in PH33R on environmental issues, like the "ozone hole" over Antarctica. Would you call a region of a wall that is a few percent less thick a "hole"? (Not to mention that we're drawing conclusions on global weather trends with a few decades worth of data. "experts" can't even explain the causes of the ice ages.) The scary part is that people will believe this and use it to bash more bad legislation onto all of us. Smog checks for mopeds? lawn mowers? leaf blowers? outboard boat engines? go-karts? Chain-saws? Don't laugh. California wants to do just this to pretty much *anything* with a gas engine in it.
Is anyone out there set up to do astrophotography with a tracking scope and a digital camera like the Kodak DC-2xx series? With a big enough memory card (a 64MB CF would do) you could take full-res photos spaced about 2 minutes apart for the full duration of the eclipse, or 1 minute apart through totality. Would make a cool animation!
--Jim
Your position on Earth relative to the Equator has nothing to do with it. Set up this experiment... Take a flashlight (close to a point source of light, similar to the Sun), turn it on, set it on something (so you can move around without the flashlight) and use it to cast a shadow on the wall. Go to the wall and put a sticky note on the wall in the shadow. Now, no matter where you move in the room, the sticky note will not appear out of the shadow. The angle with which the beam of light impacts the intervening object (the one casting the shadow) does not change. Thus, the position of the shadow does not change. Obviously, unless the sticky note falls off the wall, its position does not change. The simple fact of moving yourself around the room doesn't do anything (other than maybe knock over a chair in the dark!).
Similarly, your position with respect to the Equator will not change the fact that the entire moon will lie within Earth's shadow. That's what is required for a full lunar eclipse.
People in Eastern Europe (different longitude) will not see the eclipse simply because the moon will have set for them already. Remember, if the eclipse starts at 10pm, with totality onset at 11pm, this is 3am and 4am GMT, respectively. Eastern European sites are at GMT + several hours. It will already be daytime, and since a full moon rises at sunset, and sets at sunrise, these people will miss out.
I can agree with your assessment that there is only one moon, however.
Eric
Tons of info on upcoming lunar eclipses, other celestial events, and complete sunrise/sunset calendars (not to mention navigational ephemeris data) are available at the way, way cool page of the Astronomical Applications Dept. of the US Naval Observatory in Washington -- truly the home of the Time Lords.
--
I am quite civilized, and I should be brought a beer immediately. -- Bruce Sterling
Today is my birthday. Obviously, the moon is turning blood red to mark the dawn of a new era, the era in which I rise to rule mankind. Tonight is my night. Pray that you're on my good side...
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
Sicne the Moon is in Gemini, you're in a good situation because you can take longer exposures without getting trails. For a 50mm shot, my guess is anything under 15-20 sec should give you no trails (using a narrower-angle lens will decrease this tremendously!), but even when eclipsed the Moon might be still bright enough that you'll be using very short exposures. (Unfortunately my copy of Gordon's book is at the office, and I"m not!). Of course if you're using a telescope with tracking, it's not as much of an issue. I've only done still tripod imaging (which is fun all by itself). But be forewarned, even though the Moon looks HUGE, with a 50 mm lens, the actual lunar disk will only have a diameter of about 3 mm on the film!
Dickinson and Newton recommend for 400 speed film (I recommend SLIDE film over print film!) at f/8, an exposure time of 1/250 s at partial phases (after ingress), to 1/4 s during ingress near totality, to 1 to 10 seconds once totality starts, up to 100s for the deepest parts of the eclipse (and probably if the Moon is at perigee). Of course for exposures that are VERY long, you'll need to track the Moon to offset sidereal motion. But at a declination of 20 degrees North, as I said you can probably get up to 15 seconds without too much distortion (for a 50 mm lens).
Of course, in Boston, it's snowing.
But the next lunar eclipse visible in North America is less than a year away (Jan. 9, 2001).
Despite the fact that a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse are completely different things, and staring at the full moon would not normally cause damage, it is important to remember that staring at an eclipse can damage your eyes.
More frighteningly, lunar eclipses emit deadly "lunar rays" which affect your brain and make you stupid enough to try to watch it through a welder's mask instead of binoculars.