Lunar Eclipse Saturday to Appear Red?

[America2]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100625-lunar-eclipse-full-moon-june-26-space-science/



A partial eclipse of the full moon tomorrow may get an added boost of red color from an Iceland volcano's ash, astronomers say.

Earth's shadow will be cast across half of the moon's surface over the course of the three-hour event, which begins 3:17 a.m. PDT on June 26. The lunar eclipse will be seen throughout most of the Americas, Australia, and Asia, astronomers say.

(Related: "Year's Biggest Full Moon, Mars Create Sky Show.")

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon align. Unlike during total lunar eclipses, when the entire moon is engulfed in Earth's darkest shadow, the moon never completely dims during a partial lunar eclipse. (Take a quiz on moon mysteries and myths.)

"The dark part of the Earth's shadow will clip the moon, and you will see the part that lies within it will get much darker than the rest," said Geza Gyuk, astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

"Skywatchers will see the moon decrease in brightness and maybe even a change [in] color."

The first stages of the eclipse will be visible across central and western sections of the North American continent at dawn. Eastern parts of the continent will not see the event. For those in the Pacific Basin and Asia, the eclipse will occur late Saturday night.

Skywatchers in the U.S. central and mountain time zones will catch most of the eclipse, while those within the Pacific time zone will see it in its entirety until the moon exits the shadow completely at 6:00 am PDT.

Volcano Ash May Add Flash to Sky Show

The deepest and most interesting part of the eclipse—when Earth's shadow will fall on 54 percent of the moon's disk—occurs at 4:38 am PDT.

At this point, when the moon is at its darkest, its face may turn red from ash thrown into the upper atmosphere by recent eruptions of the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajokull. (See pictures of lava exploding from the Iceland volcano's ice cap.)

During the height of the eclipse, sunlight refracting off the scattered dust in Earth's atmosphere is projected onto the moon—the same effect that's in play during red sunsets.

"While I haven't heard of reports of particularly fantastic sunsets occurring because of the Icelandic volcano," Gyuk said, "it might be quite pretty if the ash in the air causes an extra reddening of the light reaching the moon."

[d0rn]

Ze moon, is bleedin'! 

Must be vampire night.

Yeah, stuff. 

[H0llyw00d]

moon is kickin ass tonite
B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!

[Valerius]

Somebody's bound to post it, may as well be me. Joel 2:31

[hyperqube]

umm all lunar eclipses appear red

[phosphene]

[joeblack]

so the moon turns red, the sea looks red, wars and rumors of wars, people are giving themselves up to their lustful ways, right is now the wrong and wrong is now the right, and evil all over the world is rising.

[phasma]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7855943/Illusion-to-magnify-lunar-eclipse.html

Illusion to magnify lunar eclipse
A baffling optical illusion will make the Moon appear unusually large during a partial lunar eclipse in the United States on Saturday.

The eclipse, which will just over half of the Moon's diameter obscured by the Earth's shadow, will began at 10.17 GMT (3.17am PDT).

Sadly for people in the UK, the partial eclipse will not be visible from the UK or Europe.

 
Antonio BiancoBut in many parts of the US and Canada, the eclipsing Moon will appear magnified as a result of an effect known as the Moon Illusion.

This occurs when the Moon is close to the horizon and the brain is somehow tricked into perceiving the Moon as larger than when it is higher in the sky.

Low hanging moons often appear unnaturally large when they are viewed through trees, gaps between buildings and other foreground subjects.

Measurements using cameras, however, have shown that a Moon low in the sky is no different in size from any other position in the sky and so the phenomenum is caused by a trick on the brain.

Nasa said that the effect will be particularly strong in western and central parts of the USA and Canada where the Moon will be setting as the eclipse reaches its maximum point – when 54% of the Moon will be obscured.

Because the Moon, Sun and Earth are not completely aligned, the eclipse will not totally obscure the Moon.

Observers in India, Japan and parts of East Asia will also experience the phenomenon.

Dr Tony Phillips, writing on the Nasa's science news website, said: "A partial lunar eclipse is a beautiful thing all by itself.

"It almost makes you feel sorry for people living on the dreamy islands of the South Pacific. There the eclipse takes place directly overhead, high in the midnight sky where the Moon Illusion does not work."

[Dok]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100625-lunar-eclipse-full-moon-june-26-space-science/



A partial eclipse of the full moon tomorrow may get an added boost of red color from an Iceland volcano's ash, astronomers say.

Earth's shadow will be cast across half of the moon's surface over the course of the three-hour event, which begins 3:17 a.m. PDT on June 26. The lunar eclipse will be seen throughout most of the Americas, Australia, and Asia, astronomers say.

(Related: "Year's Biggest Full Moon, Mars Create Sky Show.")

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon align. Unlike during total lunar eclipses, when the entire moon is engulfed in Earth's darkest shadow, the moon never completely dims during a partial lunar eclipse. (Take a quiz on moon mysteries and myths.)

"The dark part of the Earth's shadow will clip the moon, and you will see the part that lies within it will get much darker than the rest," said Geza Gyuk, astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

"Skywatchers will see the moon decrease in brightness and maybe even a change [in] color."

The first stages of the eclipse will be visible across central and western sections of the North American continent at dawn. Eastern parts of the continent will not see the event. For those in the Pacific Basin and Asia, the eclipse will occur late Saturday night.

Skywatchers in the U.S. central and mountain time zones will catch most of the eclipse, while those within the Pacific time zone will see it in its entirety until the moon exits the shadow completely at 6:00 am PDT.

Volcano Ash May Add Flash to Sky Show

The deepest and most interesting part of the eclipse—when Earth's shadow will fall on 54 percent of the moon's disk—occurs at 4:38 am PDT.

At this point, when the moon is at its darkest, its face may turn red from ash thrown into the upper atmosphere by recent eruptions of the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajokull. (See pictures of lava exploding from the Iceland volcano's ice cap.)

During the height of the eclipse, sunlight refracting off the scattered dust in Earth's atmosphere is projected onto the moon—the same effect that's in play during red sunsets.

"While I haven't heard of reports of particularly fantastic sunsets occurring because of the Icelandic volcano," Gyuk said, "it might be quite pretty if the ash in the air causes an extra reddening of the light reaching the moon."

[Letsbereal]

Lunar eclipse - Your pictures BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/10425234.stm

[phasma]

wow thats really cool ! Thanks for the pic ! the moon does appear huge. how odd.