Naked eye astronomy-the nature of the most common astronomical objects that can be viewed by the eye without binoculars or a telescope-is what Bregman’s students seem to find the most intriguing. Lunar Eclipses and other “Naked Eye Astronomy” The next total eclipse of the Sun that will be visible in the U.S. Unlike a solar eclipse, a rare event in which the Sun, Moon, and Earth become perfectly aligned for several minutes and cause the Sun to look “blacked out,” a lunar eclipse is safe to view with bare eyes and can be seen from anywhere in the world where it’s night. “Fortunately, though, there’s always cool stuff happening in the sky to enjoy.” “If the Moon’s orbit around the Earth mirrored the Sun’s path, we’d have a lunar eclipse every month,” says Joel Bregman, H.D. In the event of a lunar eclipse, red light is able to meet the Moon. When the Sun sets, sunlight has to travel farther and pass through more atmosphere to reach our eyes, allowing for long wavelength colors like red and orange to come through as the blue light scatters away from us. Blue light scatters more than other colors like red because blue light travels as short waves as opposed to long waves. In short, when light from the Sun reaches Earth’s atmosphere (which looks white but is actually made up of all the colors from the rainbow), the light scatters because of dust and other particles in the air. The Moon becoming submerged in the Earth’s umbra is what results in its red hue and nickname, “Blood Moon.” The red color is possible due to the same scientific marvel that makes the sky look blue: Rayleigh scattering. During a prenumbral eclipse, part of the Moon falls in the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, but not all of it falls into the umbra as seen with a total eclipse. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon don’t fall in a straight line but some of the Earth’s shadow, the penumbra, still falls on the Moon. It will be the last total lunar eclipse until March 2025, though we can still enjoy partial and prenumbral lunar eclipses until then. when the Moon sets and offers a stunning western horizon. This impressive atmospheric event, a total lunar eclipse, will occur on November 8 starting at 3 a.m. It happens slowly over the course of several hours-until all at once, when the Moon lies completely within the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, the space rock beams a dark crimson. Striking out altogether, Africa, the Middle East and most of Europe will have to wait until 2025.Īmong those providing a livestream of Tuesday’s lunar extravaganza: Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the Italian-based Virtual Telescope Project.Twice a year, after entering nightfall with a full, bright Moon overhead and the Earth and Sun in alignment, the Earth’s shadow falls across the surface of the Moon. South America will get a glimpse of Tuesday’s lunar eclipse, weather permitting. Binoculars and telescopes will enhance viewing, provided the skies are clear. At the peak of the eclipse, the moon will be 242,740 miles (390,653 kilometers) away, according to NASA scientists. Known as a blood moon, it will appear a reddish-orange from the light of Earth’s sunsets and sunrises. EST - as Earth passes directly between the moon and sun. Totality will last nearly 1 1/2 hours - from 5:16 a.m. As an extra treat, Uranus will be visible just a finger’s width above the moon, resembling a bright star. The total lunar eclipse will be visible throughout North America in the predawn hours - the farther west, the better - and across Asia, Australia and the rest of the Pacific after sunset. (AP) - Better catch the moon’s disappearing act Tuesday - there won’t be another like it for three years. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.ĬAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |