OT: Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight For North America

[Guest guest]

Total Lunar Eclipse - tonight!!!!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

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On Wednesday night, Oct. 27th, North Americans can see a total eclipse

of the moon.

 

Eastern Time

Moon enters Earth's shadow 9:14 p.m.

totality begins 10:23 p.m.

totality ends 11:45 p.m

Moon exits Earth's shadow 00:54 a.m. (Oct. 28)

 

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/13oct_lunareclipse.htm

 

According to folklore, October's full moon is called the " Hunter's Moon "

or sometimes the " Blood Moon. " It gets its name from hunters who tracked

and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the

winter ahead. You can picture them: silent figures padding through the

forest, the moon overhead, pale as a corpse, its cold light betraying

the creatures of the wood.

 

The Blood Moon rises this year on Wednesday, Oct. 27th. At first it will

seem pale and cold, as usual. And then ... blood red.

 

It's a lunar eclipse. Beginning at 9:14 p.m. EDT (6:14 p.m. PDT), the

moon will glide through Earth's shadow for more than three hours.

Observers on every continent (map) except Australia can see the event:

The pale-white moon will turn pumpkin orange as it plunges into shadow,

becoming eerie red during totality.

 

What makes the eclipsed moon turn red? The answer lies inside Earth's

shadow:

 

Our planet casts a long shadow. It starts on the ground--Step outside at

night. You're in Earth's shadow. Think about it!--and it stretches

almost a million miles into space, far enough to reach the moon.

 

Suppose you had a personal spaceship. Here's your mission: Tonight, at

midnight, blast off and fly down the middle of Earth's shadow. Keep

going until you're about 200,000 miles above Earth, almost to the moon.

Now turn around and look down. The view from your cockpit window is

Earth's nightside, the dark half of our planet opposite the sun. But

it's not completely dark! All around Earth's limb, the atmosphere glows

red.

 

What you're seeing is every sunrise and sunset on Earth--all at once.

This ring of light shines into Earth's shadow, breaking the utter

darkness you might expect to find there. Turn off the cockpit lights.

There's a lovely red glow.

That same red light plays across the moon when it's inside Earth's

shadow. The exact color depends on what's floating around in Earth's

atmosphere. Following a volcanic eruption, for instance, dust and ash

can turn global sunsets vivid red. The moon would glow vivid red, too.

Lots of clouds, on the other hand, extinguish sunsets, leading to

darker, dimmer eclipses.

 

How will the moon look on Oct 27th? Corpse white. Pumpkin orange. Blood

red. Maybe all three. Step outside and see for yourself.

 

Warning: While you're staring at the sky, you might hear footsteps among

the trees, the twang of a bow, a desperate scurry to shelter. That's

just your imagination.

 

Credits & Contacts

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips

Responsible NASA official: Ron Koczor

Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips

Curator: Bryan Walls

Media Relations: Steve Roy

 

The Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center sponsors

the Science@NASA web sites. The mission of Science@NASA is to help the

public understand how exciting NASA research is and to help NASA

scientists fulfill their outreach responsibilities.