Lunar Eclipse Tonight.

Gaige

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A total lunar eclipse will be visible (weather permitting) across North America Monday night, just in time for the longest night of the year. This will be the first time a lunar eclipse has fallen on the winter solstice since 1638.

The Earth’s shadow will begin to blot out the moon at 1:32 a.m. EST (10:32 p.m. PST). During totality, when the Earth is directly between the moon and the sun, the moon will turn a rusty orange-red for 72 minutes from 2:41 a.m. to 3:53 a.m. EST (11:41 p.m. to 12:53 a.m. PST).

Sky watchers in Europe, West Africa and South America will see only part of the eclipse before it is interrupted by sunrise (see chart below). This is also the last time a total lunar eclipse will be visible from North America until April 2014.

The Earth’s shadow appears nearly black against the moon until totality, when sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere casts a ruddy glow. An observer standing on the moon and looking back toward Earth would see a ring of red light circling the Earth, marking all the sunrises and sunsets all over the planet.

The curved edge of the Earth’s shadow as it sweeps across the moon during partial eclipse was one of the first hints to ancient astronomers that the Earth is round.

If you only want a quick glimpse of the eclipse (standing outside for four hours in December takes serious dedication), bundle up and look skyward mid-eclipse at 3:17 a.m. EST (12:17 a.m. PST), when the moon will be in deepest shadow and displaying its best coppery red hue.


Source: Here.
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I'm definitely looking out for this. Apparently, not only is this going to be the first lunar eclipse on a winter solstice for almost 400 years, but it'll be the first time the sun and the moon are visible in the sky together for just as long.

You all probably don't care, but I thought I'd post it. :wacky:
 
Your wrong I do in fact care. :) I heard about this on the radio at work today and honestly thought of FFVIII, I am such a nerd :andry:. It would be a completely awesome thing to look at, especially since it is the first one in 400 years. But alas when it starts showing it self I will most likely be in bed. I wish I could stay up that late to watch it all unfold, but I need my beauty sleep. I am not a morning person. :mokken:
 
I am so going to try and check this out. Recently I've been staying up since 3 to 4 AM, so chances pretty high are that I'm going to try and see how the moon looks tonight. Hell, I may try and force my grandparents to stay awake too so they can see what happens .
 
Am having a perfect view of it right now. The sky has been just perfect for this event. It reminds of something from Star Trek. :neomon:
 
I saw it this morning from around half way done 7:10 to about 7:40. I can't say it was anything particularly spectacular - it wasn't. It's just one of those rare occasions where you can see an eclipse properly because it was the moon rather than the sun so you could actually look at it properly. It was a good morning for it however, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
 
It was spectacular while it was still dark. Which is was for me. It was 2:50 am when the eclipse was full. The best thing, for me, was it was a clear sky as well. It is a shame I don't have a special camera setup so I could take pictures. Would of been great to have done some time lapse photography.
 
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