It's déjà vu all over again. For the third time in less than a year, sky watchers in the United States can see a total eclipse of the Moon. The action begins Saturday morning, April 4th, at 3:16 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time when the edge of the Moon first enters the amber core of Earth’s shadow. For the next hour and 45 minutes, Earth's shadow will move across the lunar disk, ultimately swallowing the entire Moon at 4:58 AM PDT. A movie from ShadowAndSubstance.com previews the transformation. This is a photographic still from the movie.
"Totality" is when the Moon is fully inside Earth's shadow. Some total eclipses last for more than an hour. In this case, however, totality spans just 4 minutes and 43 seconds—a result of the fact that the Moon is skimming the outskirts of Earth's shadow rather than passing centrally through it. The brevity of the eclipse highlights the importance of watching the clock: Be outside no later than 4:58 AM PDT to witness the red Moon. Why red? A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is underway.
You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it's not. The rim of the planet looks like it is on fire. As you scan your eye around Earth's circumference, you're seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb when viewed from Earth.
The eclipse will be visible, to some degree, across the entire Pacific side of our planet. A map of the eclipse zone shows where to look.
http://spaceweather.com/ http://shadowandsubstance.com/
You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it's not. The rim of the planet looks like it is on fire. As you scan your eye around Earth's circumference, you're seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb when viewed from Earth.
The eclipse will be visible, to some degree, across the entire Pacific side of our planet. A map of the eclipse zone shows where to look.
http://spaceweather.com/ http://shadowandsubstance.com/
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