Lunar Eclipse

Author: Tom* Comments(5)

There will be a lunar eclipse tomorrow night and it will be visible to all of South America and most of North America as a total eclipse. Points west of my cousin Dee’s place in Colorado will not get to see the whole thing, most of it though. Have a look here for a map (Credit: Fred Espenak / NASA).

The eclipse will begin at about 10 pm EST (7 pm PST) and will last until 11 pm when it will fade away.

Something to watch for and something I have never seen is a turquoise eclipse. Turquoise? Ok, I’ve seen eclipse colors vary from an orangey-copper color to a deep red, that all depends on Earth’s atmosphere at the time of the eclipse, but ozone in our atmosphere can give the eclipse a bluish tint.

From Science@NASA:

Eclipse researcher Dr. Richard Keen of the University of Colorado explains: “During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the moon passes through the stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering. However, light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer.” This can be seen, he says, as a soft blue fringe around the red core of Earth’s shadow.

To catch the turquoise on Feb. 20th, he advises, “look during the first and last minutes of totality.” That would be around 10:01 pm EST and 10:51 pm EST (7:01 and 7:51 pm PST).

My forecast? According to NOAA “Partly cloudy, with a low around 4. North wind between 6 and 8 mph.”

Image: Larry Koehn (shadowdisturbance.com) via Science@NASA

5 Comments so far

  1. Ed Cohen on February 19th, 2008

    I hope the clouds disappear by tomorrow.
    I have never seen a total lunar or solar eclipse.
    At my age, I won’t have many more chances.

  2. Merit-bound Alley » Angry gods to eat moon tomorrow on February 19th, 2008

    [...] of Tom’s Astronomy Blog, we have the excellent news of a full lunar eclipse tomorrow night! The eclipe will begin at 20:43, [...]

  3. Tom on February 19th, 2008

    I am hoping the same thing Ed!!

  4. Demony wokó? mnie » Things to see in the sky tonight on February 20th, 2008

    [...] An example is tonight/tomorrow morning’s lunar eclipse which has been mentioned by Dave, Tom, Will, Phil, The Jodcast, and Rob. The eclipse is visible between 01:43 am UT and 05:09 am UT [...]

  5. johnnyd on February 20th, 2008

    I hope the eclipse doesn’t distract or confuse those involved with and/or the rocket employed for the sattelite demolition. Remember peeps ..
    STAY LOW & MOVE SWIFTLY. Enjoyment and good luck 2 ya’ll. :)

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