The August Lunar Eclipse - The Second This Year

by sciondriver
The August Lunar Eclipse - The Second This Year
Article by Gary Nugent

The August Lunar Eclipse - The Second This Year - Education - Science












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The Moon's orbit is inclined at 5 degrees to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon such that the three bodies are in line and the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow.Lunar eclipses can only occur when the moon is near full and can be seen from anywhere on Earth where the moon is above the horizon. The Moon doesn't normally completely disappear since it is illuminated by light scattered from Earth's atmosphere, but it usually becomes a reddish, coppery colour.The full shadow of the Earth, called the Umbra, is surrounded by a partial shadow, called the Penumbra. At the beginning and end stages of an eclipse, the Moon moves into the penumbra. This shadow is barely discernible on the lunar disk and eclipses where the Moon only passes through the Earth's penumbra are known as Penumbral Eclipses. There are two other types of eclipse: Partial where only a part of the moon passes though the Earth's dark umbral shadow and Umbral where the Moon is totally enveloped by the Umbra. These eclipses are better known as Total Lunar Eclipses. And that's what will occur on the morning or August 28th. For the second time this year (2007), the Moon will go into a total Eclipse. The eclipse will be visible from five continents including most of North America. Unfortunately, it won't be visible from Europe or Africa.The event begins 54 minutes past midnight PDT (0754 UT) on August 28th when the Moon enters Earth's shadow. At first, there's little change. The outskirts of Earth's shadow are as pale as the Moon itself; an onlooker might not even realize anything is happening. But as the Moon penetrates deeper, a startling metamorphosis occurs. Around 2:52 am PDT (0952 UT), the color of the Moon changes from moondust-gray to sunset-red. This is totality, and it lasts for 90 minutes.And the best part is that you don't need a telescope to watch the spectacle. All you need is a clear sky.And if you should miss this one, there'll be a chance to see one on Feb. 21, 2008!You can find out when future eclipses will happen (and when past ones occured) with LunarPhase Pro, which also predicts a huge number of Moon phenomena and lets you become acquainted with the Moon through its interactive Moon Atlas.For more information about the eclipse, with times and diagrams try these sites: Aug. 2007 Moon Eclipse and Moon Phases on Squidoo
About the Author
Gary Nugent has run the Night Sky Observer astronomy website since 1997 where you'll find the latest news and informatoin about astronomy and space exploration.










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