Total Eclipse Of The Moon February 20th 2008

[Darryl]

There will be a Total Eclipse Of The Moon on February 20th 2008. The eclipse will be viewable for all of North America. The beginning of the Penumbral Eclipse will be the only phase that can't be seen from the West Coast of North America. This first phase of the eclipse is not visible by the human eye so it won't be any big deal.

I had gone to bed during the last eclipse of the moon as it was cloudy and I had given up any chance of seeing it. I woke up during the night and took a glance out the window and saw a beautiful orange to dark brown disk. I even think my wife didn't mind me waking her up (along with the kids) to see the moon during this event.

For those who have not seen a lunar eclipse before its definitely worth the effort to see. A total eclipse occurs when the moon enters the earth's shadow known as the Umbra. The Umbra is where no direct light from the sun reaches the moon. It's only when the moon passes through the Umbra, the darkest part of the earths shadow, can it be called a total lunar eclipse. The other part of the earth's shadow is called the Penumbra and lies outside of the Umbra and is not as dark because the earth only blocks some of the direct light from the sun.

[Blue Fire]

Thanks for the heads up, Darryl! I'll be watching for it for sure. I've seen a few lunar eclipses before (at least 2 total eclipses) and I agree that its not a sight to be missed. I remember the first total I saw many years ago - I was expecting the umbra phase to result in a completely dark Moon. At first I thought the reports of a total eclipse was bogus, even though I greatly appreciated the ruddy orange-brown Moon. Of course that was back in the days when I didn't understand the physics of it.

I'll be praying for clear skies!

[Jim Colyer]

Thanks guys. I plan to watch the eclipse, may pick up a pair pf binoculars. I saw my first lunar eclipse at 14. It was the winter of 1960. I, too, did not understand why the moon did not get completely dark. Years later, I learned about earth's atmosphere bending light onto the moon's surface.

[Darryl]

Hi All,

Don't forget that a Total Lunar eclipse occurs tomorrow night (Wednesday Feb. 20th) in the early evening.

[Blue Fire]

What a wonderful sight! I got to watch the vast majority of the whole eclipse with only 10-15 minutes of cloud cover during the partial. In totality the Moon was a gorgeous deep orange. I also thought I detected a bit of the turquoise color around the edges using my binoculars. The turquoise is supposed to be from the fact that our ozone layer absorbs red while letting the blue rays through. Did anyone else notice the turquoise? Or was I imagining it?

Very cool, in any case! Actually it was Cold (for me anyway) at 10 degrees F - with my heart condition, the cold air does a number on my lungs so I was constantly going out for a few minutes, going back in to warm up, and then out again.

[Darryl]

I can't say I noticed any turquoise color through my 80mm ED refractor. This eclipse seemed quite a bit darker and less colorful than the last one. While I did see some orange, for the most part I thought the moon was quite dark. I did have some cloud roll over for a half hour or so shortly after the full eclipse started but it cleared up with plenty of time to view the rest of the eclipse. I didn't have to go to far to view the eclipse. Opening the front door of the house and putting the telescope in the driveway was all I needed to do. It wasn't overly cold, around 4C if I remember correctly.

Did anybody take any pictures? Take a look at these great shots from Ozzmoziz. eclipse of febuary 20 2008 from montreal - Extreme Astronomy Image Gallery

[Blue Fire]

Hmmm... I thought the eclipse was a bit brighter than previous ones. Sky & Telescope reports [http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...15838502.html]

This eclipse was brighter than the more central one last August — as indicated in this pair of images taken by Gary Seronik using the same telescope, camera, and settings. S&T: Gary Seronik

I've noted other observation reports that wondered if the discrepancy of brightness, color, etc., is due to the different viewing locations. Could this be a factor? Some folks said it seemed to be darker and some said brighter, and with varying descriptions of colors. In the comparison pic at the S&T site, the pic on the right (this eclipse) matches quite well with what I saw.