Today, March 3rd, is the second moon eclipse happening this year.

Isn't this amazing?!?!

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What will happen?

Well, the moon will start to "erase" from the sky (it has already began, to be honest) as the Earth's shadow is cast upon it. The Earth is right between the moon and the sun, and at some days (like today), it's shadow covers the moon. As NASA says, if you were on the moon, you'd see it go orange/reddish, as this is the colour the moon gets during a full eclipse.


Who can watch it?

Well, virtually everyone can watch it. However, people in Africa and Europe are highly favoured as the eclipse will be visible in its total from there. It will be visible, however, from all 7 continents as you can see from NASA's map here:

[link]


Why is it red and not completely dark?

Well, logically, since the Earth is larger than the moon, and also the distance between the Earth and the moon is smaller than the distance between the Earth and the sun, the shadow of the Earth should cover totally the moon (and it does), and thus the moon would just not be visible. However, that's not the case. The moon takes an orange/reddish colour, as some of the sun's rays are bent by the Earth or are deflected, passing through Earth's atmosphere, thus reaching the moon. Hence, it takes that reddish colour. The orange nature of the moon will normally not be visible, with the naked eye, however an orange halo might be visible from some areas (if the sky is clean) and certainly with a telescope.


How to take photos

Well, normally, to take photos of the moon, even to just take what you see (and not an orange halo that you can't see without extra exposure) it takes a sensitive film, long exposure, and a lense of about 300mm. It's very rare to have a lense like that, but if you do have one, use it and take good pictures. The exposure will have to be a few minutes too. If you don't own a 300mm lense, you can always take a telescope, and usually you will be able to attach your digital camera on the telescope, otherwise you'll have to have a really steady hand


Tell us more about eclipses!!

Well, NASA estimates that by the year 2020 they will have sent men on the moon again, and that they will witness "moon eclipses" (sun eclipses for them, actually, as the earth will pass in front of the sun) in a way that the ground will turn reddish (you can see a photo here: [link] - no, that's not Mars - courtesy of Doug Murray) and the Earth will cover the sun partially or totally. They have estimated that around 7,000 eclipses exist in the timespan from 2000 BC to 3000 AD, and that an average of 1 or 2 lunar eclipses per year is common, with 1982 having 3 lunar eclipses.


Upcoming Lunar Eclipses

in August 28th 2007 (total eclipse)
in August 16th 2008 (partial eclipse)


See More:

NASA: Lunar Eclipse
SPA on Lunar Eclipse
Jodrell Bank Observatory
SkyTonight: Lunar Eclipse
Photo: November 2003 Eclipse


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Enjoy your view tonight!! And tons of apologies for not posting this earlier, I just read about it too At least I am going to take a good look at it: my uncle has brought his telescope (he's an astro-freak and he adores planets and stuff)


_{(the perfect time to go out with someone you care and share this once-every-few-monthly experience )}