Path of the Moon through Earth's umbral and penumbral shadows
during the Total Lunar Eclipse of Aug. 28, 2007.
(Pacific Daylight Time)
Posted on 08/26/2007 1:04:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
DENVER - The Earth's shadow will creep across the moon's surface early Tuesday, slowly eclipsing it and turning it shades of orange and red. The total lunar eclipse, the second this year, will be visible in North and South America, especially in the West. People in the Pacific islands, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand also will be able to view it if skies are clear.
People in Europe, Africa or the Middle East, who had the best view of the last total lunar eclipse in March, won't see this one because the moon will have set when the eclipse begins at 4:51 a.m. EDT. It will take an hour to reach full eclipse stage.
An eclipse occurs when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light. It's rare because the moon is usually either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.
Since the Earth is bigger than the moon, the process of the Earth's shadow taking a bigger and bigger "bite" out of the moon, totally eclipsing it before the shadow recedes, lasts about 3 1/2 hours, said Doug Duncan, director of the University of Colorado's Fiske Planetarium. The total eclipse phase, in which the moon has an orange or reddish glow, lasts about 1 1/2 hours.
The full eclipse will be visible across the United States, but East Coast viewers will only have about a half-hour to see it before the sun begins to rise and the moon sets. Skywatchers in the West will get the full show.
In eastern Asia, the moon will rise in various stages of eclipse.
During the full eclipse, the moon won't be completely dark because some light still reaches it around the edges of the Earth. The light is refracted as it passes through our atmosphere, scattering blue light — which is why the sky is blue — but sending reddish light onto the moon.
"When someone asks why is it (the moon) red, you can say because the sky is blue," Duncan said.
The next total lunar eclipse occurs Feb. 21, 2008, and will be visible from the Americas, Europe and Asia.
NASA Lunar Eclipse Page:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html
Path of the Moon through Earth's umbral and penumbral shadows
during the Total Lunar Eclipse of Aug. 28, 2007.
(Pacific Daylight Time)
Above URL gives info for your town.
Thanks!
I will probably just sleep thru this one.. check the YouTube later for film. :-)
It might not be visible from Fairbanks, too far south.
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Was at an “Eclipse Party” once. During totality the moon was totally gone from sight, no ‘earth shine’. One attendee suggested, “Someone should get a picture of that.”
Total Eclipse of the Moon
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
o ‘ o ‘
W147 45, N64 49
Alaska Daylight Time
Moon’s
Azimuth Altitude
h m o o
Moonrise 2007 Aug 27 21:25 117.9 ——
Moon enters penumbra 2007 Aug 27 23:52.2 151.2 10.6
Moon enters umbra 2007 Aug 28 00:50.9 165.2 13.1
Moon enters totality 2007 Aug 28 01:52.0 180.2 14.1
Middle of eclipse 2007 Aug 28 02:37.3 191.4 13.9
Moon leaves totality 2007 Aug 28 03:22.7 202.4 12.7
Moon leaves umbra 2007 Aug 28 04:23.8 217.0 9.9
Moon leaves penumbra 2007 Aug 28 05:22.5 230.7 6.0
Moonset 2007 Aug 28 06:42 248.5 ——
It will turn red or orange. That is the color of the moon now as seen at midnight from Fairbanks as it is not even above treeline to the south. If visible from here, it will be oranger I suppose.
14 degrees above horizon at maximum, which would be local midnight. That would be visible among the trees, but still very orange normally. Best view would be down the powerline clearing if it’s clear, but recent full moons have not necessarily been clear.
Was at an “Eclipse Party” once. During totality the moon was totally gone from sight, no ‘earth shine’. One attendee suggested, “Someone should get a picture of that.”
What you saw was the earth blocking the direct SUNshine.
If that’s a lunar eclipse, then a solar eclipse must be when the sun passes between the earth and the moon.
Wouldn’t that cause global warming?
“Take a picture of the sound, Stephen.”
Yup. It took a couple if seconds to sink in, but it cracked everybody up!
Of course not, silly. Global warming is caused by using more than 1 sq of toilet paper and by not driving a Prius.
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/skywatch/#115 has a podcast about it. They usually run about 5 minutes
“Is it feeling a little warm today, or is it just my hot flashes again?”
That’ll be some spectacle, along with Mars being its closest to Earth in, what, 1,000 years at the same time.....
Anybody going to be up for this one? I’m thinkin’ about it.
Gettin’ the camera ready. I’ll have pics prob tommorrow night. I’ll post here.
I am.
I’m out in the country and the coyotes are howling up a storm. They really seem to be reacting to the eclipse.
I think I will get up and out a bit more earlier than normal, it should reach full eclipse for me here in Wasilla, Alaska in one more hour, yesterday was a really nice minimal cloudy day in the afternoon with the temps in the mid 60’s so it should be good viewing.
Beautiful! I’m looking at it now! Thanks for these photos.
Cool, isn’t it?
I just saw it here in Sacramento, CA and it looks amazing to have the Moon almost completely dark except for a dark reddish glow on the surface.
Great Night here on the Left Coast for viewing this.
I don’t recall seeing such a redish orange glow in past eclipses I’ve seen.
Am I just remembering poorly?
That’s because of the light refraction through the atmosphere of Earth that we get the reddish glow on the Moon. If Earth had no atmosphere the Moon would have gone nearly completely dark. (By the way, the Moon has sometimes gone nearly black during a lunar eclipse in the past if there was a lot of dust in the atmosphere caused by things like a major volcanic eruption.)
Thanks much.
I think I understand the part the atmosphere plays . . . similar to the harvest moon effect in terms of color, right???
But why does this one seem reader, more colored, than my memory of past such eclipses??
My memory or something different in the atmosphere?
Got to see it too,thanks
Oh yes!
I just checked again and the moon is now completely blocked and rose-colored. It was worth staying up to see.
That's because the atmosphere on Earth has little dust in it right now, and as a result the light refraction through the Earth's atmosphere is quite strong. (If I hear this is a result of global warming I'm going to virtually bop the person who says it.)
Glad you’re seeing it way up there also. My first peek was about 2:15, when the Weather Channel (I know...I’m boring) gave us a heads-up; there was just a sliver of bright then, and now it looks pretty total.
make that first glimpse at 2:45....need more coffee.
Yes-It's usually overcast at this time of the early morning, but, there's not a cloud in the sky right now. Perfect viewing.
Thanks again for taking these. They’re just awesome!
Good night.
Ahhhhh. Interesting.
Seems to be approaching or right at maximum here in NW New Mexico when I just peeked out.
Bump... Beautiful sight this morning driving in to work.
Your photos are wonderful. Better than my binoculars. LOL.
Thanks.
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