Lunar Eclipse Next Tuesday Morning

[Ava]

Tuesday morning, Aug. 28 brings us the second total lunar eclipse of 2007. Those living in the Western Hemisphere and eastern Asia will be able to partake in at least some of this sky show. The very best viewing region for viewing this eclipse will fall across the Pacific Rim, including the West Coast of the United States and Canada, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, New Zealand and eastern Australia. All these places will be able to see the complete eclipse from start to finish.

Europeans will miss out on the entire show, as the Moon will be below the horizon during their mid and late morning hours. The Moon enters the umbra at 4:51 a.m. EDT (1:51 a.m. PDT). Totality begins at 5:32 EDT (2:52 PDT) and ends after sunrise on the East coast and at 4:22 a.m. PDT.

Read more here: http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070824_ns_eclipse.html

I'm a total nerd for this kind of stuff. I always set my alarm to get up where there is going to be a meteor shower or an eclipse. It's just so cool!

[Lucinda]

1. Thanks for the heads up!

We're in the nerd club too. :)

[TahitiNut]

2. Is it also a "blue moon"?? (On edit: I guess not.)

If so, or if the blue moon is the next night, it's a rare educational opportunity.

On edit: I guess our last blue moon was on May 31 and our last full moon was at the end of July (the 29th) and not the beginning of August. Oh well. :shrug:

[Eileen]

13. Two new or full moons in the same month --

is not a rare occurrence. Given the moon's 28 day cycle, and the fact that calendar months normally exceed that timespan, it is in fact quite frequent.

A blue moon is in fact blue. It is caused by refraction of the sun's rays as they pass through the atmosphere of earth and is not much different from the red, orange, and yellow moon we often see except that it very seldom reaches the blue wavelength. For this reason a blue moon is indeed a rare occurrence.

The myth of two new/full moons and the second one is a blue moon is fast becoming a factoid and like most factoids is without substance.


Eileen

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

3. K&R

[cboy4]

4. Can I just say how deeply disappointed I am whenever I

stay up till 4AM or whatever, to watch what's supposed to be some spectacular meteor shower or comet or anything else in the sky?

I just always walk away saying to myself, "That was it? That was the once in our lifetime phenomenon that allegedly was supposed to light up the sky with streaks and what not?" :wtf:

LOL!!

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I hear someone say, "let's go watch the meteor shower," I say uh, no thanks.

I'll admit eclipses are far more reliable and interesting to observe...especially solar.

But thanks Ava for the reminder!! :bounce:

[Ava]

9. i saw one meteor shower in particular that i will NEVER forget

it was amazing. i was 13 when it happened and there were literally dozens of meteors passing in the sky every second. it was so cool.

[cboy4]

10. Sweeet! Needless to say, I haven't been so lucky

:(

[Ava]

15. i live in a more rural area in alabama

so that might be why i can catch stuff like that really well... no lights in the sky(which is great for star gazing). sometimes you just gotta look up into the sky with so many stars at night and say "wow."

[Mythsaje]

5. This is ALSO the day

that Mars will be close enough to (allegedly) look like a second moon in the night sky.

I'm just hoping that our Pacific Northwest skies are clear enough to actually SEE it.

[stellanoir]

8. No

Not to be a downer but this happened in '03 and every year since, that e-mail has circulated and people have assumed it was current.

It's not.

http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/mars2003.html

A lot of smart people have made this mistake so don't feel badly.

The eclipse on 9/11 and an event in mid December are what I'm looking towards.

best

[Subdivisions]

6. I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff too, Ava. Thanks for

the heads up! I'll be sure to wake up early and go watch it.

[BlueJazz]

7. I'm an Avid amateur Astronomer. I have an 8" reflector that I use....

...constantly ...but...it's such a shame how Light Pollution has messed up seeing the things that 10 years ago were a piece of cake. :)

[judaspriestess]

11. oh yippee, this means that god is going to put a veil over the

moon to cover it up and make it look that way.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Lies! Lies! Deceit and Lies! We Believe in GOD!!!

http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2006/04/12/bill-nye-the-science-guy-gets-whacked-in-the-bible-belt/

[Ava]

17. excuse me, but why try to turn this into a flame war when it is just a thread about an eclipse

:shrug: (this isn't just directed towards you but to the others in this thread that seem to be doing the same thing). is the a joke on du that i don't get?

[Warren DeMontague]

25. It's only gonna be a flame war if there are people who agree that the Moon doesn't reflect light

from the sun.

Maybe the part you're missing is the threads from a couple days ago, talking about how Bill Nye the science guy was booed in Texas- for mentioning the same- by some serious fundy nutjobs. Apparenly the idea that the moon isn't self-illuminated goes against the Bible. Apparently.

It seems fairly natural and obvious to draw a link from that thread to this one, but if you didn't see the other thread I could see how it might not make sense. That's the part you're missing, I think.

And thanks for posting the story about the eclipse. :thumbsup:

[H2O Man]

14. "There will be

signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars." Luke 21:25

"The stars told us when to go hunting, when to go fishing. We had a name for every star."
-- Tadodaho Leon Shenandoah

[BlooInBloo]

16. Cool! Did you catch the meteor shower a week or so ago? I missed it.

[Ava]

18. nope, i didn't hear about that one!

phooey!

[BlooInBloo]

19. Apparently the next one is in October... always another chance...

http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/

[Ava]

20. awesome! and only a few days from my b'day

i'll have to check that one out!

[BlooInBloo]

23. lol! Me & my parents are all October - busy month, apparently.

[BlooInBloo]

22. self-delete - wrong branch.

[Ava]

24. yup, seems so!

:hi:

[malaise]

21. Thanks Ava n/t

[DemReadingDU]

26. morning kick

I'm usually up early, I'll check it out, Thanks!

[Ava]

27. REMINDER!

I got my alarm set (although it won't show up as good here in 'bama).