Total lunar eclipse February 20, 2008: Americas, western Europe

William Atkins
Saturday, 16 February 2008 21:58

Science - Space

The full Moon will become colored a mesh of reddish-orange, with hints of turquoise, as it passes into the shadow of Earth after rising over the eastern horizon and after the Sun has sunk beneath the western horizon on Wednesday evening.           

On the evening of Wednesday, February 20, 2008, the greatest beauty (mid-point) of the total lunar eclipse will occur at approximately 10:26 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the east coast of the Americas, 7:26 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on the west coast, and 03:26 Universal Time (UT).

For time conversions at your local viewing locations, please go to TimeZoneConverter.com or another time conversion program on the Internet.

http://www.timezoneconverter.com/.

The entire total lunar eclipse is visible from South America and most of North America.

Skygazers along the west coast of North America will miss the early stages of the partial eclipse because it begins before Moon rise. Alaskans will see moonrise during totality but bright evening twilight will make it difficult to view the event.

Citizens of western Europe and northwest Africa will also be able to observe the entire eclipse.

However, further to the east in eastern Africa and central Asia, the Moon sets before the eclipse ends. So, those people will not see the event.

And, the eclipse will not be visible from eastern Asia or Australia.

To see the fantastic display in the evening sky, go outside and watch this beautiful event. If you miss it this year, you won’t be able to see a total lunar eclipse again until December 2010.

A penumbral eclipse begins at 8:36 EST (00:36 UT), followed by a partial lunar eclipse at about 8:43 p.m. EST, and then followed by the beginning of the total eclipse at about 10:01 p.m. EST.

The total eclipse will last until about 10:51 p.m. EST (05:51 UT), with the end of the partial eclipse at about 12:09 a.m. EST and the end of the penumbral eclipse at 12:16 a.m. EST.

A lunar eclipse is the result of the Earth being directly between the Moon and the Sun. The Earth, thus, blocks the rays of the Sun from impinging on the surface of the Moon.

The atmosphere of the Earth—the stratosphere—redirects (refracts) the light coming from the Sun (scatters it) so that it becomes reddish-orange in color, which is why we often see a reddish sunset at dusk. The amount of scattered light depends on the amount of dust in the atmosphere. The more dust, the more scattering of light, and the deeper coppery-red color seen on the Moon.

You may very likely see a turquoise color on the Moon. Why does this happen? Please read on.