Clicking probably beneficial.Last March 3rd, Europeans had a fine late-night view of the previous total lunar eclipse. In France, Laurent Laveder captured a series of images to make this composite.
The 28 August eclipse, by contrast, will occur low in the west as dawn is brightening for many observers. (Composite photo by Laurent Laveder.)
Sky and Telescope Magazine (USA)
OBSERVING BLOG by Alan MacRobert
Lunar Eclipse
on Tuesday 28 August 2007
Skywatchers in the Americas get their second total eclipse of the Moon this year on Tuesday morning, August 28th. But as with the first one (back on 3 March), you may find that the shadowed Moon is intimately involved with bright twilight and your local horizon, depending on where you are.
The Moon sets during the eclipse over much of America. (See maps above.)
In fact, this eclipse is practically a mirror image of the one in March. It will happen while the Moon is sinking low in the west before or during dawn, instead of rising in the east during or after dusk. And this time, westerners in North America get the good view, while easterners are the ones who’ll miss some or most of the show.
The farther west you are, the better. In the Pacific time zone, you’ll see the Moon’s edge begin slipping into the dark part of Earth’s shadow very early, at 1:51 a.m. PDT. Totality, with the Moon completely in shadow, runs from 2:52 to 3:23 a.m. PDT, and the last partial stage of the eclipse ends at 5:24 a.m. PDT. At that time the Moon is still fairly well up in the southwest and dawn is perhaps only beginning to break.
These events happen an hour later by the clock in each time zone farther east. This means Midwesterners will see the Moon approach the horizon and become lost in the light of dawn while totality is still in progress. And in New England the Moon will be low and the sky quite bright before totality starts.
These complications will offer interesting photo opportunities. Remember that the Moon appears very small by normal photographic standards: ½° wide, less than the size of your little fingernail seen at arm’s length. So zoom your camera in as far as you can. See our online article for more photo tips.
If you’re in Hawaii or New Zealand the entire eclipse happens high in a dark sky. In Australia and the Far East, the action happens low in the eastern sky on the evening of August 28th local date, perhaps around sunset or in twilight.
Eclipse Darkness
How dull and dark, or how bright and colorful, will the Moon get this time while in Earth’s shadow? The March eclipse was moderately bright. Many people noted that the major craters remained easily visible with binoculars throughout the event, and the lunar maria (its dark “seas”) could be seen with the unaided eye. The colors were fairly subdued, ranging from near-white at the Moon’s brightest edge to rose, brick-red, or perhaps chocolate at the darkest edge.
During August’s total lunar eclipse, the Moon passes through the southern part of Earth’s umbra, or shadow core. The eclipse is partial while the Moon is moving across the umbra’s edge. Less noticeable will be the first and last stages of the eclipse, when the Moon is only in the penumbra, the shadow’s pale outer fringe. Click above for a larger image.
In August, the Moon will pass closer to the center of our planet’s shadow than it did in March. So this time, we might expect it to be slightly duller and darker around mid-eclipse.
The reason a totally eclipsed Moon isn’t completely black is because Earth’s atmosphere scatters and refracts some reddened sunlight into our planet’s shadow. This is why the shadow’s umbra (its dark central portion) glows with a ruddy hue — anywhere from bright sunset-orange to dark blood-black.
An astronaut on the Moon would see that this illumination is coming from all the sunrises and sunsets ringing the dark Earth with the Sun hidden behind it. The brightness of Earth’s sunrise-sunset ring depends on weather conditions around the world at the time and especially on the amount of dust suspended in the upper atmosphere.
On 27 October 2004, the Moon was eclipsed during Game 4 of the World Series [baseball].
Even during a given eclipse, colors and shades in the umbra can be surprisingly varied. The Moon will pass south of the shadow’s center this time, so around mid-eclipse the south part of the Moon (the lower-left part as seen from North America) should look brightest. Around the beginning of totality, you’ll probably see a bright yellowish or even bluish-white arc just inside the umbra’s edge. Such effects give the eclipsed Moon a very three-dimensional appearance.
The Next Lunar Eclipse
First it was easterners’ turn, now westerners’ — but on 21 February 2008, all of the Americas will get a fine view of a total lunar eclipse high in the dark evening sky. That event will end a series of three in less than a year.
Copyright © 2007 New Track Media. All rights reserved.
Sky & Telescope, Night Sky, and SkyandTelescope.com are registered trademarks of New Track Media.
4 comments:
here's more details of the eclipse from nasa.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html
hopefully you can convince my wife of the myths in islam and otherwise on pregnancy and eclipses because i haven't been able to.
Zat you Abbas? Hey hey hey hi hi!
Yeah, I was just about to completely cure Judaism of its unfortunate ancient addiction to Kabbalah -- when suddenly Madonna and many of her Jet Set Superfriends became big noisy public fans of Kabbalah. Madonna vs. Bob of Vleeptron: it's just not a fair fight. I give up.
One of the great mysteries of Islam and Astronomy is the origin of the symbol of the Crescent Moon and the Single Star that's on so many Islamic national flags, the Red Crescent symbol, etc.
Trouble is -- modern astronomers, in conjunction with historians, and even using computers to run the moon and stars and comets backwards in time, can't for the life of them find a Battle or Famous Episode in Islamic history where the night sky had such a unique, memorable display.
Sky and Telescope in particular has had several very detailed and interesting articles about The Mystery of the Crescent Moon and Star. Just no definitive answer.
Solar and Lunar eclipses, and Comets -- I don't care how many PhDs in astrophysics you have -- when you see them, you get a deep spooky feeling. Something deep in your brain says: The Sky Is Broken. And it just gives you the creeps.
So stop fighting. Fear of the Sky devouring the Sun or the Moon is bigger than you are. Just be grateful that so far, the sky always brings back the Sun and the Moon.
The ancient Iraqis were the first humans who could predict solar and lunar eclipses, an astonishing achievement we call The Saros Cycle. They had no idea or even primitive scientific theory to explain eclipses. But their civilization and their record-keeping was continuous for so long that eventually they stumbled on this repetitive cycle of solar and lunar eclipses. Particularly astonishing is that being able to see a Solar Eclipse is a very local phenomenon, and many Solar Eclipses came and went without being able to be seen from Mesopotamia. But even with all the "skipped" solar eclipses, the Mesopotamian astronomer-priests still figured out the Saros Cycle.
Eclipses are "twinned" -- every Solar Eclipse will be, within a week or two, preceeded or followed by a Lunar Eclipse. Lunar eclipses are much more forgiving. Wherever you can see the Moon, you can see its eclipse.
More "Detailed Viewing Instructions" --
Don't have FOG!
Ahh, thank you for this important addition to the viewing instructions.
Where's that foto u say you took of the lunar eclipse in October? I wanna see it.
Vleeptron is only responsible for moving the Earth, Sun and Moon around to arrange the eclipses. We are in no way responsible for local atmospheric conditions.
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