Tonight: The Earth”s shadow will fall on the Moon this evening giving us this year”s only total lunar eclipse. The Moon will seem to fade away as the full Moon moves in to the shadow. Once the Moon is totally into the darkest part of the shadow or umbra, the Moon will turn a reddish hue due to sunlight bending through the Earth”s atmosphere into the umbra. How red depends on the state of the Earth”s atmosphere and how close to the center of the umbra the Moon passes. This eclipse skirts through the southwestern edge of the umbra, so the southwestern limb of the Moon might not go quite as red as the northeastern limb. Look for the star Regulus above the eclipsed Moon and the ringed planet Saturn to the Moon”s left. The Moon enters the umbra at 8:43 p.m. EST. Totality starts at 10:01 p.m. EST. Mid eclipse is 10:26 p.m. EST. Totality ends at 10:51 p.m. EST. The Moon leaves the umbra at 12:09 a.m. EST. Subtract 1 hour for CST, 2 hours for MST and 3 hours for PST. The next total lunar eclipse visible anywhere in the world will be December 20th, 2010.
Night Sky Note for February 20, 2008
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