Moon’s Being Chased by an Earth Shadow
There’s another lunar eclipse coming up — the second total one this year — and people in most of North and South America, as well as parts of the Pacific, Oceania and Asia will see all or part of it. The sight of a red-colored moon is pretty amazing, and I hope you’ll check it out for yourself.
It begins in the wee hours of October 8th for North and South America and will be an evening sight for everybody else. So yeah, it means you have to get up really early if you live where it occurs after midnight. But, it’s worth it. I stayed up pretty late for the last one, and it really is a spooky, eerie, and ultimately beautiful sight.
The whole eclipse lasts several hours, so it’s not a “quickie” event. If you plan to watch, be sure you’re dressed for the weather. While you’re watching the shadow pageant unfold, use your binoculars or telescope to study the Moon’s surface. It’s a fascinating place to explore.
If you want to know more about eclipses, and this one in particular (and if you aren’t quite sure if you can see it from your location), check out MrEclipse.com, Eclipsewise.com, TimeAndDate.com, Sky&Telescope, and Astronomy magazines online for viewing information.
The prospect of a great total lunar eclipse (which occurs at Full Moon) always brings out the loonies. I’ve been reading for months about how these total lunar eclipses are portending ominous things, or “mean” something apocalyptic.
In reality, there’s nothing supernatural about a lunar eclipse. Lunar (and solar) eclipses are predictable, they happen every year (whether partial or total), and they’re part of a regular cycle that occurs as the Moon and Earth move in their orbits. Earth orbits the Sun, the Moon orbits Earth. And, every once in a while, those motions bring them into alignment with each other (which is itself normal and nothing to be worried about). When that happens, we can get an eclipse (if all conditions are right.
Fred Espenak (MrEclipse himself) has a lovely discussion of lunar eclipses and how they work, so if you want to dig in a little deeper to understand this completely natural and predictable phenomenon, check it out. See you next week under the Red Moon!