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Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight
chuckpeters writes "A total lunar eclipse will soon darken the full moon for most of North and South America, Europe, and Africa.
The Moon rises about five p.m. EST and the eclipse will be in penumbra. Totality begins at 8:06 p.m. EST. and ends at 8:31 PM EST and the partial eclipse ends at 10:45 PM. EST" To obtain the time and location for your area, use the Lunar Computer. It looks like the weather will cooperate and we will have clear skies for most of the country. Articles can be found at NASA, Space.com, Sky and Telescope, and Starry Skies."
Wow, we get to see the moon go out. This is cool. Since we're talking about lunar eclipses, I would like to share some cultural things.
In Taiwan, it was believed traditionally that the lunar eclipse is caused by a massive dog who ate the moon. So during lunar eclipse, everyone took out their cooking pans, pots and stuff and hit them with utensil in hope to scare the dog into spitting the moon back out.
Just some interesting info.
In US, you can easily buy enough major firearms to wipe out your neighbourhood but a few little fireworks are banned.
I'm still waiting on this solar eclipse to end. (not with the moon though... it seems that this pesky middle section of the earth is blocking my view... any way to remove it??)
They are all still dead from the last eclipse.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Three cheers for Earth!
The Law of Falling Bodies
The Lunar Computer will only give you US times. BTW only the Northern East Coast will get totality. You should be able to see the full eclipse from anywhere in Europe, North Africa and Ukrain.
The Moon will be in penumbra at 11 PM CET. Totality begins at 2:06 a.m. CET on the 9th of November, and ends at 2:31 a.m. CET, and the partial eclipse ends at 14:45 a.m. CET.
Substract one hour for GMT.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
I saw a complete lunar eclipse over Cornwall in the UK about 12 years ago, when I was about 8. It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen, as I have never witnessed the sky so clear, and seen so many stars. I recommend having a look at the Milky Way whilst the eclipse is at totality. I think I enjoyed the Lunar Eclipse better than the Solar Eclipse that appeared right over Cornwall in 1999, as it was just too cloudy.
It should be visible tonight after the eclipse.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
Totality should be 01:06 AM to 01:31 AM GMT.
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
EXN has all the times for the eclipse in Canada. Check'em out! I'll be out watching! I love astronomical events. w00t! w00t!
EXN article/eclipse times for Canada http://www.exn.ca/Stories/2003/10/31/51.asp?t=dp
from the burn-your-eyes-out dept. There is no risk of damaging your vision by looking at a lunar eclipse. The sun is positioned behind the earth which blocks light from hitting the moon, so if anything you may have to strain in some places to see the lunar eclipse. Solar eclipses, on the other hand, do present a danger of vision loss cuz staring directly at the sun is never a good idea.
"This food is problematic."
"Does anybody have the eclipse times for Europe ?"
Start (16:30) EST, where Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours behind GMT. That makes 01.30 in England, which is using GMT at the moment. (update: USNO says 01:06 GMT for beginning of totality)
My website says that hungary is in GMT+1, which would make it 02:06 start (for a couple of hours duration), unless you're still using daylight-savings time?
Anyone further east than hungary will have to get up even later in the morning, unless you're a hacker, in which case you'll be able to see it while you're still working.
All we need now is a power-cut forecast... does anybody here work in the east midlands switchgear department?
http://www.wunderground.com
The site provides detailed weather and sky charts for almost anywhere in the world. Cool, eh!!
It's worth also pointing out that tonight we will be experiencing the Leonids meteor shower. This is one of the stronger showers of the year, and back in 1998 it produced around 200 meteors per hour. While its not possible to predict how many meteors there will be this year, the fact that the shower is combined with a lunar eclipse makes it rather special, IMHO. Interestingly enough, the same conincidence happened last year!
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
But seriously... here's a nice animation of what we can expect tonight.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse happens simultaneously regardless of where you are. The only questions are A) what time zone you're in (a little simple arithmetic), and B) whether you're in the right place to have an unobstructed view of the moon.
1) The eastern coast will see it
:oP
2) All of the rest of America will see it, but only while the moon is rising, Australia's actually the only continent that won't see it.
3) Slashdot serves the entire planet. It is relevant to more people than it isn't.
Time to fly to a small 3rd world country and take over. Once I demonstrate that I can make the moon disappear I'm sure I'll be declared their new King.
MUAHAHA
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
they proceeded to eat the dog.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Here is a better calculator with the option to find times for the rest of the world as well as other eclipses.
[alk]
What OS? Sun Clock for Win32 includes a sky map. I won't vouch for it being great (I Am Not An Astronomer) but if you want something for free that you can set up in a few minutes, give it a shot.
If you run linux, Kstars is an excellent and free choice. If you don't, there's a web based sky chart available from Sky and Telescope magazine's website.
If all of this leaves you and your Mac cold, I'm sorry. Debian does have a Mac port, but I'm unfamiliar with it. Knoppix is on the way for you if it's not already here.
Free software for everyone!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Amateur astronomers are encouraged to make a note of the appearance of the eclipse and rank it on the Danjon scale. The scale looks something like this:
L = 0 Very dark eclipse. Moon almost invisible, especially at mid-totality.
L = 1 Dark Eclipse, gray or brownish in coloration. Details distinguishable only with difficulty.
L = 2 Deep red or rust-colored eclipse. Very dark central shadow, while outer edge of umbra is relatively bright.
L = 3 Brick-red eclipse. Umbral shadow usually has a bright or yellow rim.
L = 4 Very bright copper-red or orange eclipse. Umbral shadow has a bluish, very bright rim.
The data is collected by Sky & Telescope and eventually NASA. For lack of another address, (astronomy AT valivingmuseum.org) is collecting data. Along with your rating on the Danjon scale, please include the following:
-Time of Viewing & time zone
-Sky Conditions: (e.g. clear, thin clouds, partly cloudy, etc.)
-General Location
I like xephem. It even shows details of the eclipse tonight.
The astronomy of the eclipse is borderline here: the eclipse is in progress when the moon rises. The weather is also borderline, alas, but I'll see what happens.
The last lunar eclipse here (back in May) was 95% clouded out, with just a few glimpses through breaks in the clouds toward the end. But the one I saw before that (Toronto, 21 January 2000) was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, with a coppery grey ash burnt-out thing in the sky where the moon should have been. Magic!
...laura
Cheers, Jouni
Jouni Mannonen | Game Designer, Consultant
Yesterday's Astronomy Picture of the Day has a good animation, and today's has a picture of the eclipsed moon in infrared.
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
The druids, however, were not a tribe themselves, but rather a priestly caste among the early Celtic peoples. (Druid priest is therefore somewhat redundant.) They were also responsible for law, the pronouncement of legal judgements, and keeping of history. It's not entirely accurate to say that they had no written language, as they did have a system of writing; it just wasn't particularly widespread. Reason being, the lawyers (brehon) and bards had to memorize everything -- without changing or forgetting a single word -- during their training, which lasted about 20 years.
Now, lest this be completely off-topic, there's some reasonably educated speculation that Stonehenge could have been used as an astronomical calendar for both lunar and solar observations. Apparently, the lunar calculations are pretty accurate, for people without slide rules. (Not necesssarily the druids, although they are firmly linked to Stonehenge in popular imagination.)
As I said at first: don't know where you read the story, but a mis-timed eclipse isn't the most likely culprit for the downfall of the early Celts (or the druids.) We have Julius Caesar to thank for that one. ;)
Doing my level best to piss off the religious right wing...