LadyFish
Admiral
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2003
- Messages
- 6,894
Total Lunar Eclipse Wed. Night
Earthlings are about to be treated to a total lunar eclipse. Between 10:23 and 11:45 pm EDT, the moon will resemble a glowing pumpkin. <br />
<br /><br />The last chance to see a total lunar eclipse for more than two years comes Wednesday evening for most residents of North America and Western Europe.<br /><br />The event -- which might be televised during World Series Game 4 -- will wrap up a series of four total lunar eclipses in the past 18 months. But there won't be another one for more than two years, on March 3, 2007.<br /><br />What causes an eclipse, and why do they occur on an irregular schedule?<br /><br />Unpredictability is at the heart of eclipse lore. For the ancients, a lunar eclipse was a haunting event. Some believed a dragon of the sky was eating the Moon, flooding it with blood before consuming it entirely. Of course it always came back, and that fueled more speculation.<br /><br />The cause of lunar eclipses is simple: Earth gets in the way.<br /><br />The Moon is a shiny beacon because it reflects sunlight. The Moon makes no light of its own. Earth always casts a shadow into space, and every now and then everything aligns just right so that the shadow falls on the Moon.<br /><br />Lunar eclipses can only occur at Full Moon, that time each month when the Moon is directly opposite the Earth in relation to the Sun. It's like you, representing the Earth, standing in front of a bright light and casting a shadow on a child.<br /><br />Below is a timeline, for Eastern Daylight Time. In the Central Time Zone, subtract one hour from these times; in the Mountain Time Zone, two hours, and for the Pacific Time Zone, three hours.<br /><br /> * 9:14 p.m.: Moon enters Earths dark umbral shadow<br /> * 10:23 p.m.: Totality begins<br /> * 11:04 p.m.: Mid-eclipse<br /> * 11:45 p.m.: Totality ends<br /> * 12:54 a.m. (Oct. 28): Moon leaves the umbra<br /><br />For Europe and Africa, the mid-point of this eclipse occurs roughly between midnight and dawn on the morning of Oct. 28 and as such the Moon will still be well placed in the western sky. At the moment of mid-totality (3:04 GMT), the Moon will stand directly overhead from a point in the Atlantic Ocean roughly several hundred miles to the northeast of the coast of Suriname.
Earthlings are about to be treated to a total lunar eclipse. Between 10:23 and 11:45 pm EDT, the moon will resemble a glowing pumpkin. <br />
Hopefully the weather people are wrong, cuz their track record is so wonderful 
