Tonight's the night!
Please go outside at 7:05 to see the last lunar eclipse until December 2010. That's part of the Explorer's homework tonight. Other homework includes their Science from Mr. G. My Math class is to do their Golf Math page called "Par-fect" Fractions. Both the work page and their graph paper scratch piece of paper are due tomorrow.
NOW on to the lunar eclipse!
The following information is from both NASAand also King 5 News . I hope you find this interesting and informative:
Eclipses occur only at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are in a perfect line. Because the moon's orbit around Earth is not perfectly aligned with the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, eclipses do not occur at every full moon. The moon will enter Earth's umbral shadow (the full shadow) at 5:43 p.m. Pacific tonight. It will appear as though an ever-larger bite is being taken out of the moon. Some 78 minutes later, the moon will slip into full eclipse. About 51 minutes later, a bright scallop will appear as the moon starts emerging. It will be completely out of the umbral shadow at 9:09 p.m. Pacific time.. Look for the moon to possibly turn red during the total portion of the eclipse. "The exact color that the moon appears depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere," according to a NASA statement. "If there are extra particles in the atmosphere, from say a recent volcanic eruption, the moon will appear a darker shade of red." The redness occurs because while the moon is in total shadow, some light from the sun passes through Earth's atmosphere and is bent toward the moon. The effect is to cast all the planets' sunrises and sunsets on the moon.
King 5 News:
Wednesday night could be an interesting one in the skies over the Northwest. A total eclipse of the moon - the last one until 2010 - will be visible, and the U.S. military is planning to shoot down a damaged spy satellite.
An eclipse occurs when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light.
"Shortly after the moon rises you will see a bite taken out of it as the shadow of the earth starts to slide over the man in the moon," said Marriott.
The full eclipse, known as "totality," will begin at 7:01 p.m. Seattle time and last about 50 minutes.
"The moon will be totally within the earth's shadow and will either look dark, or possibly coppery," said Marriott.
The coppery color is created when the sun's light goes through the earth's atmosphere.
NASA says viewers may also see some turquoise, which is caused when light passes through the ozone layer.
Eclipse researcher Dr. Richard Keen of the University of Colorado says the best time to see the turquoise is during the first and last minutes of totality.
Saturn and Regulus will also be visible on either side of the moon. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo.
Skywatchers viewing through a telescope will have the added treat of seeing Saturn's rings.
Mariott says the best place for viewing is some place that has a clear view of the eastern horizon.
"The shadow will start to slide off the moon at 7:48," he said.
Wednesday's event will be the last total lunar eclipse until Dec. 20, 2010. Last year there were two.
Also tonight, the Air Force plans to shoot down the damaged spy satellite known by its military designation, US 193.
The Bush administration and U.S. military officials have said the bus-sized satellite is carrying a fuel called hydrazine that could injure or even kill people who are near it when it hits the ground.
The military has said it hopes to smash the satellite just before it enters Earth's atmosphere, with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean.
According to SpaceWeather.com, an air traffic advisory warns pilots to avoid a patch of ocean near Maui from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Seattle time). The Web site says this would center the missile strike on the darkness of Wednesday's eclipse, and possibly make debris visible from the west coast of North America.
Marriott says the debris would look like a lot of meteors.
US 193 was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward.
Christopher Columbus famously used a blood red- eclipse in 1504 to frighten natives on Jamaica into feeding his crew.
The planet Saturn and the bright star Regulus will form a broad triangle with the moon's ruddy disk, according to Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist.
You don't need any special equipment to watch a lunar eclipse. A telescope will bring out interesting details of the lunar surface, and even a small telescope will reveal Saturn's stunning rings.
Here's a YouTube video if you are unable to see tonight's lunar eclipse. It's the total Lunar Eclipse August 28, 2007 Hawaii . It is definitely worth viewing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dk--lPAi04&feature=related.
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