Total Lunar Eclipse Saturday 3/3

[Virgo10]

Most will see it rise partially eclipsed but it should be interesting anyway.

LONDON, England (AP) -- The moon will turn shades of amber and crimson Saturday night as it passes behind the Earth's shadow in the first total lunar eclipse in three years.

The eclipse will be at least partly visible from Asia to the Americas, although those in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will have the best view.

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light. The event is rare because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.

Although it will pass completely under Earth's shadow, light from the sun will still reach the moon after being refracted through Earth's atmosphere, giving the moon an eerie dark reddish tinge.

"It's not an event that has any scientific value, but it's something everybody can enjoy," said Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Earth's shadow will begin moving across the moon at 3:18 p.m. ET Saturday, with the total eclipse occurring at 5:44 p.m. ET and lasting more than an hour.

Observers in eastern North America and South America will find the moon already partially or totally eclipsed by the time it rises over the horizon Saturday evening.

Alaska, eastern Australia and New Zealand will miss the show altogether.

The next total lunar eclipse will occur August 28.

 

[tink1978]

I am excited...I have a large yard with a clear view (as long as it is not cloudy)...I am hoping to see a little anyway.

 

[Nala2007]

I live in Hawaii so we won't get to see it, it will still be very much daytime here

boohoo

 

[SydSim]

Anybody seeing it now? There are soo many clouds here, I can't see anything.

 

[Claire L]

Clear skies here and I think totality has just started

Claire

 

[Fairy Dust]

We just watched the total eclipse - it was superb!

 

[Fairy Dust]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1253887,00.html

 

[safetymom]

It is cloudy here.

 

[mommasita]

It is cloudy here.

Here too, and DARK

 

[christineann]

too cloudy!

 

[crzy4dsny]

I'm checking it out right now. Looks great here on Long Island.

 

[Virgo10]

Bleech, we got rained out. I'm watching a live feed from Spain!

http://www.ucm.es/info/Astrof/obs_ucm/luna/eclipse_luna_3mar07/imagenes_directo.html

It's not the same though.

 

[Virgo10]

How about a blast from the past. The 2003 total lunar eclipse at Coronado Springs.

Last picture edited for dramatic effect.

Great place to watch one of these.

 

[Pixie Tales]

Nope... and I was soooo upset.. I wanted to see the eclipse and couldn't it's too cloudy...

 

[DISUNC]

It REAL COOL LOOKING in the poconos!

 

[fan_of_small_world]

We're visiting the Jersey shore...too cloudy at moonrise, so we missed the orange glow of the total eclipse. We just checked a little while ago though and the moon rose above the clouds, so the kiddies got a look at the partial!

 

[arkansas mom]

We saw it! Preeeetty .

 

[tiff13]

I'm so sad I missed it. I thought it wasn't til later. I looked outside and thought it was pretty darn bright and then I remembered it was tonight. Oh well.

 

[MomofKatie]

We were on our way to dinner at around 7pm- looked up and the moon was just a sliver with a darkish orange-y shadow over most of it. Remembered that last night we remarked on the big, full moon. Told DD it must be a lunar eclipse (didn't know about it at the time).

Went in to dinner- came back outside an hour later, and it was all over with! The moon was big, full, and bright again. We were disappointed- we would have stood and watched it, but we thought it would take a while to finish.

Oh, well, we got to see some of the eclipse- it was pretty cool looking (at least the little bit we saw)...

How often do they happen?? DD seemed to think they are pretty uncommon.

 

[Virgo10]

How often do they happen?? DD seemed to think they are pretty uncommon.

There's a total on August 28th of this year and another total on February 21st of 2008. Both are visible in the USA but I'm not awake enough to figure out the time period or how much we'll actually get to see.

Here's the site I used for that info.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEcat/LEdecade2001.html

BTW, in 2024, for those of you who like to plan ahead , there is a total eclipse of the SUN that passes right through Baxter State Park in Maine. What a great place that would be to see this! Here's a map with the yellow line being the areas of longest totality.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/TSE2024google.html

And there's another one on August 21, 2017 that crosses the USA as well.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/TSE2017google.html