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Full Lunar Eclipse for the Americas on Wednesday

Posted by Zonk on from the ooo-spooky dept.

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."

10 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Netcraft confirms it... by Daimanta · · Score: 4, Funny

    The moon is dying!

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  2. Better get ready... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yikes, that snuck up on me. I'd better start collecting them now if I want to have 100 virgins ready for the sacrifice.

    1. Re:Better get ready... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      well, you've certainly come to the right place to get them.

    2. Re:Better get ready... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hi there. I don't usually post but, as a Dark Malevolent Entity myself, I thought I'd clear a little something up.

      See, we Shapeless Horrors really, how do I put this delicately, well, we don't want your kind. You know, the whole living in mom's basement, pale and pimply, obese, comic book type virgin. Your souls really simply don't do it for us.

      I mean, sure, you meet the technical qualification of virginity, but there's just not the same flair in you guys as in, say, a young and beautiful maiden type virgin. That's what we Unspeakable Things from the World Beyond Sanity are looking for.

      If some schmuck sacrifices a hundred Slashdotters, do you think I'll actually appear before him, much less do him any favors? No. At best, I fart in his general direction, at worst, I dismember him out of spite. Believe me, low grade sacrifices are more common than you'd think.

      At first, it was fun to experiment with you geek types, but the heartburn afterwards just isn't worth it. Ever get indigestion from souls that haven't seen the sun in months? Not fun.

      Please, just keep this in mind this eclipse: If you plan on summoning me or any other Terrors from Outside the Realm of Human Comprehension, do us a favor and use only the highest grade virgin Anyway, I look forward to meeting and eating some of you.

      Warmest wishes,
      D. Cheney

  3. The "IT" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... as the it moves into the Earth's shadow...
     
    Oh no! The IT has returned! It shall be moving into earth's shadow and then consume us all!!! First to go will be /. editor's who don't bother proofreading.

  4. Visible in Europe, Africa too by ebcdic · · Score: 4, Informative

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

  5. Re:can anyone give a real schedule? by value_added · · Score: 5, Informative
    (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.
  6. Clarification and Full Details by Genocaust · · Score: 5, Informative

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

    --
    It could be that the only purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others.
  7. Re:Times are off by nightwraith22 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

  8. Photography suggestions by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 4, Informative

    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