Full Lunar Eclipse for the Americas on Wednesday

KingArthur10 writes "It will be the last lunar eclipse until December 2010, and it should be spectacular. Shades of turquoise and red will pour over the moon's surface as it moves into the Earth's shadow around 8:43pm EST. As NASA reports: 'Transiting the shadow's core takes about an hour. The first hints of red appear around 10 pm EST (7 pm PST), heralding a profusion of coppery hues that roll across the Moon's surface enveloping every crater, mountain and moon rock, only to fade away again after 11 pm EST (8 pm PST). No special filter or telescope is required to see this spectacular event. It is a bright and leisurely display visible from cities and countryside alike. While you're watching, be alert for another color: turquoise. Observers of several recent lunar eclipses have reported a flash of turquoise bracketing the red of totality ... The source of the turquoise is ozone.' So, all of you amateur astronomers need to get out there and take pictures. It might be worthwhile sharing them on sites like SpaceWeather or Flickr so that our Asian, European, African, and Australian brethren can witness the sight as well."

Comments

Visible in Europe, Africa too

[ebcdic]

It'll just a bit later in the night here.

Re:Visible in Europe, Africa too

[Smauler]

Thanks for that - I'd just assumed it'd be in the Americas from what I read until your comment. If I'm really determined, I might go straight to bed when I get home on Tuesday, and try to wake up for 3am or so (I get up at 6 for work anyway), but I doubt that will happen. If anyone else in the UK (and most of western Europe) is interested, here's what I found out about times from Alpha Galileo :

It begins at 0035 GMT when the Moon enters the lightest part of the Earth's shadow, the penumbra. Soon after the Moon will have a slight yellowish hue. At 0142 GMT the Moon starts to enter the dark core of the Earth's shadow, the umbra. At 0301 GMT the Moon will be completely within the umbra - the 'total' part of the eclipse has begun. This is the time when it should have an obvious red colour. Mid-eclipse is at 0326 GMT and the total phase ends at 0352 GMT. At 0509 GMT the Moon leaves the umbra and the eclipse ends when the Moon leaves the penumbra at 0617 GMT.

Re:can anyone give a real schedule?

[Sparr0]

Reading comprehension FTW! It takes about 3 hours for the entire eclipse to pass, and the middle hour is the period of total eclipse, referred to in TFA as "Transiting the shadow's core".

From TFA:

[breem42]

> Editor's note: This story is written for an American audience, but not only
> Americans can see the eclipse. People in Europe and western Africa are also
> favored. International maps and timetables may be found here.

Re:can anyone give a real schedule?

[value_added]

(I know, meteorologists don't study meteors)

Ah, but didja know why?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/meteor

The streaks of light we sometimes see in the night sky and call meteors were not identified as interplanetary rocks until the 19th century. Before then, the streaks of light were considered only one of a variety of atmospheric phenomena, all of which bore the name meteor. Rain was an aqueous meteor, winds and storms were airy meteors, and streaks of light in the sky were fiery meteors. This general use of meteor survives in our word meteorology, the study of the weather and atmospheric phenomena. Nowadays, astronomers use any of three words for rocks from interplanetary space, depending on their stage of descent to the Earth ...

meteor
1471, "any atmospheric phenomenon," from M.Fr. meteore (13c.), from M.L. meteorum (nom. meteora), from Gk. ta meteora "the celestial phenomena," pl. of meteoron, lit. "thing high up," neut. of meteoros (adj.) "high up," from meta- "over, beyond" (see meta-) + -aoros "lifted, hovering in air," related to aeirein "to raise" (see aorta). Specific sense of "fireball, shooting star" is attested from 1593. Atmospheric phenomena were formerly classified as aerial meteors (wind), aqueous meteors (rain, snow, hail), luminous meteors (aurora, rainbows), and igneous meteors (lightning, shooting stars). Meteoric in the figurative sense of "transiently brilliant" is from 1836.

Clarification and Full Details

[Genocaust]

NASA has the scoop on everything, including pretty pictures and charts of when you can see what based on timezone :)

Correction

[FeebleOldMan]

It will be the last TOTAL lunar eclipse until December 2010

Plenty of eclipses before 2010, just not total ones.

Re:Times are off

[nightwraith22]

The eclipse lasts over 3 hours (8:43pm to 12:09am). It's totality, when the moon passes through the umbra (i.e. the core of the shadow as the summary quotes), that lasts for an hour lasts from 10pm to 11pm. More info on lunar eclipses at http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html

Photography suggestions

[spaceyhackerlady]

Use a long lens. A telescope is handy; 300mm will be about right to shoot the Moon rising through the trees or other scenery, as it will be doing here during the eclipse. Real closeups will need 1000 to 2000mm focal length.

Bracket heavily. During the last good eclipse I shot from 1/2 to 10 seconds during totality at f/8.

Enjoy. The weather forecast here (Vancouver) is not favourable. The eclipse last August was almost completely clouded out too. Sigh.

...laura

Re:Better get ready...

[meringuoid]

What is this "sun" that you speak of?

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, it's a gigantic nuclear furnace where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees.