Every night, we look at the moon high above our heads and
see it shining down on us. It's not very often, however, that the moon makes
the national news, causing millions of people to talk about it and all look skyward at the same time. But that is
exactly what happened on Wednesday, February 20, 2008. For the third time this
year, there was a total lunar eclipse, an event which occurs when the moon is
immersed totally in the Earth's shadow.
Wednesday's total lunar eclipse was viewable by more then
half of our planet, including observers in the Western Hemisphere, Europe,
Africa, and western Asia. As the first picture
in this blog entry shows, the eclipsed moon can be described as a glowing,
coppery ball. Wednesday's lunar eclipse also came with a rare bonus because
Saturn and Regulus (a bright, blue-ish star) formed a triangle with the moon.
This triangle will not occur again within this millennium.
Hopefully, you saw this fascinating event Wednesday night.
Butt did you wonder what was going on? What you were actually looking at? An
eclipse follows a very specific schedule.
The beginning of the eclipse occurs when the moon enters the
penumbra or faint, outer portion of the Earth's shadow. The penumbra is very
difficult to see, but sharp-eyed viewers may have noticed it as a tiny shading
on the left-hand side. Once the partial eclipse begins, the penumbra is much
easier to see, as the dusky border to the much darker umbra shadow. The moon
takes 78 minutes to become fully shadowed. It is completely shadowed for 51
minutes, when it then begins to exit at the lower left (southeastern) edge.
Approximately 75 minutes later, the moon fully exits the Earth's shadow and the
eclipse is over.
If you missed Wednesday's eclipse (or just want to see
another), you may have a chance this summer. There will be a partial eclipse on
the night of August 16-17 that will favor Europe and Asia
for the best viewing experience. This eclipse will cover approximately 81% of
the moon with the umbra. The next total lunar eclipse (like the one on
Wednesday night) will not occur again until December 21, 2010.
Lunar eclipses have been relatively common as of late, but
they are still an interesting and breath-taking phenomenon that excites both
scientists and civilians alike.
CR4 Aerospace Blog
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