Clouds threaten Arkansans’ view of total lunar eclipse
Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/217268/
Cloudy skies threaten to block the view of stargazers Wednesday night as they crane their necks for a peek of a copperyred moon during the last lunar eclipse until December 2010.
Beginning at 7: 43 p. m., the moon will appear to be eaten away in bite-size pieces as it passes through the earth’s shadow, causing a total lunar eclipse, said Clay Sherrod, an astronomer with the Arkansas Sky Observatory atop Petite Jean Mountain.
By 9 p. m. the moon will be completely within the earth’s shadow, where it will remain for roughly 52 minutes, Sherrod said. The eclipse will end just before 1 a. m. Thursday, when the moon is in full view again, he said.
“[During an eclipse ] The moon looks like it is hanging by a thread among the stars,” Sherrod said. “You can actually tell it is superimposed between us and the distant stars, and it is the only time really that a person can actually see depth in space.”
A total lunar eclipse is caused when a full moon moves into the path of the earth’s shadow.
“The earth passes exactly between the moon and the sun, so what you will see in a lunar eclipse is the shadow of the earth falling on the moon,” said Marc Seigar, an astronomy professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The moon doesn’t go completely dark because the atmosphere of the earth captures some light, and that light is reflected on the moon, Seigar said. The result is a moon with an eerie red glow, he said.
If skies are cloudy, the eclipse will be harder to see. The National Weather Service is predicting cloudy skies across the state with a chance of rain, said Brian Smith, a forecaster with the weather service’s North Little Rock office.
Total lunar eclipses happen periodically. Last year, there were two, but the next one won’t appear until Dec. 20, 2010.
If the skies stay clear, Wednesday’s event will be one of the better eclipses in recent history, said Bob Moody, director of the Coleman Observatory near Van Buren.
Last year, the first eclipse came in March, and the moon was already eclipsed when it rose, so it was difficult to see, Moody said. The second one occurred in August just before sunrise, so the moon was nearly out of sight, he said.
“We were just basically out of luck with those,” Moody said.
This eclipse should be visible throughout North and South America, he said.
At least one eclipse watch party is planned by the Arkansas Oklahoma Astronomical Society. It will be held at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas Valley Nature Center in Barling. The event will begin at 7 p. m., Moody said.
No telescope is necessary, said Sherrod, with the Coleman Observatory. Because an eclipse can be seen with the naked eye, it is a great event for those with even a mild interest in astronomy, he said.
Centuries ago, a lunar eclipse was a much more mysterious and sometimes frightening event, Sherrod said.
“Less was known about the celestial motions and the mechanics of the solar system,” he said. “You can imagine the frightening nature of an eclipse... suddenly the moon turns nearly invisible, starts glowing red in the sky, only to come back out again.”
In one famous story, Christopher Columbus is believed to have used his knowledge of an impending lunar eclipse to trick the natives of Jamaica while he was stranded on the island on Feb. 29, 1504, Sherrod said.
As the story goes, Columbus was marooned with no food or supplies during his fourth trip to the Americas. The natives of the island eventually grew tired of the sailor and his crew and refused to offer him any rations, Sherrod said.
Columbus knew from nautical charts that an eclipse would occur that night. He met with the natives and told them God was angry that they refused to share food, and to show his displeasure, God would make the moon disappear that night.
When the moon did indeed disappear, Columbus told them all would be forgiven if they provided the food. When they did so, the moon returned.
“Unfortunately, all of that mystery and mystique is sort of gone, but there is still a romance with the moon that we all have,” Sherrod said. “[An eclipse ] is still one of the most beautiful things a person can actually get out and enjoy with the sky.”