A dragon eats the moon tonight
Published Wed, Feb 20 2008 10:02 AM
Technorati Tags: Cool Stuff
Well, maybe not, but there will be a total lunar eclipse tonight starting at about 7:00PM on the Pacific coast. The last time there was a total lunar eclipse, it was really eery to see, hanging blood-red up in the night sky. I took out my camera, but just couldn't get a decent shot, since I still didn't have my tripod and because I didn't really know how to work the thing.
Hopefully tonight I can do better. I've got a tripod, so I can take longer exposure photos, and I know how to adjust the ISO speed so I can get more light. Now if the clouds will cooperate, the Seattle PI tells us...
If the clouds part, residents on the western, wetter side of the Pacific Northwest just might get a glimpse Wednesday night evening of the last total lunar eclipse to be visible from this corner of the planet until Dec. 20, 2010.
"It's not hopeless," said Carl Cerniglia, an optimistic forecaster at the National Weather Service in Seattle. Cerniglia said increasing clouds with showers are expected to move through, making it a challenge for anyone on the west side of the Cascades to see the eclipse.
"In Eastern Washington, you should be able to see it just fine," he said.
"From Seattle, the moon will just be rising in the eastern sky when it starts," said Toby Smith, an astronomer at the University of Washington. There usually are one or two lunar eclipses visible from somewhere on the planet every year, Smith said.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes into Earth's shadow and is blocked from the sun's rays that normally illuminate it. During an eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, leaving a darkened moon visible to observers on the night side of the planet.
The moon doesn't go black because indirect sunlight still reaches it after passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
Because the atmosphere filters out blue light, the indirect light that reaches the moon transforms it into a reddish or orange tinge, depending on how much dust and cloud cover are in the atmosphere at the time.
…
Later this year, in August, there will be a total solar eclipse and a partial lunar eclipse.
I was fortunate enough last time around to see the eclipse beginning as I drove home. I hope the weather cooperates tonight. Maybe scientists aren't that interested in lunar eclipses, but I am.
[Update: Well, I saw the beginning of the eclipse in Seattle.
Unfortunately, it's cloudy where I live and you can't see the moon, so I won't be getting pictures… again. 
At least not this decade.
]
[Update: Reports of bad weather at home were temporary. I got home as the eclipse was ending, and went outside and took about 15 pictures. I did quite a bit of experimenting with the camera, but ultimately was defeated by the lack of a really good telephoto lens. Even so, I did manage to get these two shots (sorry, the detail is washed out partly because of the lack of zoom).
First, this one was taken with a low ISO setting, and a long (30 seconds) exposure.
You can see the section of the moon that's in shadow, but the brighter part washes out the rest of the picture and there's simply no detail at all. The second shot was taken with a high (1600) ISO setting and the flash (to get as short an exposure as I could).
That one's a bit better, but you still can't see much detail. You can definitely see the curvature of the Earth's shadow though. Proof (as if any was needed in this day and age) that the Earth is NOT flat, but round.]
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