A total lunar eclipse is a complete obscuring of the full Moon by the Earth’s shadow due to light from the Sun. It occurs when the Moon becomes darkened as it passes through the Earth’s red shadow. In the initial partial eclipse phase, the Moon will be dimmed by the Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra. Later, the Moon enters the Earth’s inner shadow, or umbra—at which time it becomes a total lunar eclipse.

The eclipse begins at 22:43:49 universal time (UT = EST – 5 hours, or about 17:44 EST, or 5:44 p.m. EST) and ends at 23:58:01 UT (about 6:58 p.m. EST), with the maximum amount of eclipse being at 23:20:56 UT (about 6:21 p.m. EST). Thus, it is expected to last just over one hour, 14 minutes. Information about the March 3rd eclipse is found at: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2007Mar03T.GIF.

The event will be visible from parts of all seven continents on the Earth. In North America, the eclipse will already be happening the farther away from the east coast one is located—so the less of it you will see. The Moon will have risen before the total lunar eclipse begins when one observes it on and near the east coast. Further east, the eclipse will already be happening when the Moon rises over the eastern horizon at sunset on Saturday night. Across the Midwest and the Plains states, the total eclipse will have already happened by the time the Moon rises in the evening sky, so observers will only see a partial eclipse. Observers in the Rocky Mountain states will see even less of the eclipse, while West Coast viewers will miss it all together.

In Europe, Africa, and western Asia the eclipse will take place late in the night while the Moon is high in the sky.

Because of the lunar eclipse, the Moon will be colored a deep coppery-red. Its color is such because light from the Sun that impinges on the Earth is filtered and refracted (bent) by the Earth’s atmosphere before reaching the Moon. Thus, the Moon will appear reddish—more specifically, bright red on its upper half while a darker shade of brown on its lower half.

According to NASA scientist Fred Espenak, of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, there will be 7,718 partial and total eclipses in the five thousand years between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 3000. A second total lunar eclipse will occur on August 27, 2007. It will be best observed, this time, in the western parts of the United States and in areas of the Pacific Rim.

The NASA Eclipse Web page, from the Goddard Space Flight Center, is: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/lunar.html. The project is managed by Fred Espenak.

{moscomment}

---

Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now
When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject
Valued at $99 USD


Download the FREE iTWire desktop alert widget