Post by auntym on Dec 4, 2011 12:17:05 GMT -6
Super-Sized TOTAL Lunar Eclipse Coming Soon - December 10, 2011 [/color]
Uploaded by Sheilaaliens on Dec 3, 2011
Total Eclipse of the Moon [/color]
"On Dec 10th, sky watchers in the western United States will witness a total lunar eclipse swollen to super-sized proportions by the Moon illusion.
science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02dec_lunareclipse/
Dec. 2, 2011: Waking up before sunrise can be tough to do, especially on a weekend. On Saturday, Dec. 10th, you might be glad you did. A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible in the early morning skies of western Northern America.
The action begins around 4:45 am Pacific Standard Time when the red shadow of Earth first falls across the lunar disk. By 6:05 am Pacific Time, the Moon will be fully engulfed in red light. This event—the last total lunar eclipse until 2014—is visible from the Pacific side of North America, across the entire Pacific Ocean to Asia and Eastern Europe: global visibility map.
For people in the western United States the eclipse is deepest just before local dawn. Face west to see the red Moon sinking into the horizon as the sun rises behind your back. It’s a rare way to begin the day.
Not only will the Moon be beautifully red, it will also be inflated by the Moon illusion. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. In fact, a low Moon is no wider than any other Moon (cameras prove it) but the human brain insists otherwise. To observers in the western USA, therefore, the eclipse will appear super-sized.
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It might seem puzzling that the Moon turns red when it enters the shadow of the Earth—aren’t shadows supposed to be dark? In this case, the delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet reddens and redirects the light of the sun, filling the dark behind Earth with a sunset-red glow. The exact hue (anything from bright orange to blood red is possible) depends on the unpredictable state of the atmosphere at the time of the eclipse. As Jack Horkheimer (1938-2010) of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium loved to say, "Only the shadow knows."
CONTINUE READING: science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02dec_lunareclipse/