MOON: First Selenar/Lunar Eclipse on Winter Solstice Since the Year 1638 !

As many as 1.5 billion people worldwide will be able to watch when the
Earth's shadow creeps across the moon's surface early Tuesday morning, the
first time in hundreds of years that a lunar eclipse will fall on the winter
solstice.

With the full moon high in the winter sky, the lunar eclipse will be visible
from four continents, with the best views from North America and Central
America if weather permits, scientists say.

"It's a really democratic event," Andrew Fraknoi, the chairman of astronomy
at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, told the San Francisco Chronicle,
"because you don't need an expensive telescope or any other sophisticated
equipment to enjoy the spectacle -- just your eyes or, if you like, a pair
of binoculars."

Unlike a solar eclipse, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed
anywhere in the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.

That means portions of this particular lunar eclipse could also be seen from
northern and western Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including
Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from
the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii -- a potential viewing audience
of about 1.5 billion people, according to Space.com.

Total lunar eclipses in northern winter are fairly common - NASA says there
have been three of them in the past ten years alone. However, a lunar
eclipse falling precisely on the date of the solstice is quite unusual.

Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory inspected a list of eclipses
going back 2000 years for NASA.

"Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching
the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is 1638 DEC 21," Chester
said, according to NASA. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for
the next one ... that will be on 2094 DEC 21."

This year's event will take 3 hours and 38 minutes. The eclipse begins on
Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 1:33 a.m. ET, according to NASA. At that time, Earth's
shadow will appear as a dark-red mark at the edge of the moon. It will take
about an hour for the mark to expand and cover the entire moon. Totality
begins at 2:41 a.m. and lasts for 72 minutes.

During totality, the moon will be entirely immersed in the Earth's shadow,
but the moon will not disappear from sight. Instead, it should appear to
turn coppery red, as Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight into the shadow.

Since the Earth's shadow is cone-shaped and extends out into space for about
844,000 miles, sunlight will be strained through a sort of "double sunset,"
all around the rim of the Earth, into its shadow and then onto the moon,
according to Space.com.

If you're planning to dash out for only a quick minute, NASA recommends that
you choose this one: 3:17 a.m. ET. That's when the moon will be in deepest
shadow, displaying the most fantastic shade of copper red.

For more information on how often the December full moon coincides with the
solstice, see this explanation of Greenwich mean time and the resulting time
zones...

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/...est-day-years/

And for a graphic slide show of the lunar eclipse, see the website
http://www.shadowandsubstance.com.

Stupendous! Selenar Thank You to Lisa Holewa of AOL News !

Happy days *and*...
Starry, starry nights !

--
Are you sleeping?
Stars are waiting,
Shining high, they wait for you.

Are you watching?
Stars are soaring,
Flashing, twinkling just for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUuVMhp-4pA

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS - http://painellsworth.net !
http://astro.secretsgolden.com !
http://dailydares.secretsgolden.com !

On Dec 19, 1:58*pm, "Painius" wrote:
As many as 1.5 billion people worldwide will be able to watch when the
Earth's shadow creeps across the moon's surface early Tuesday morning, the
first time in hundreds of years that a lunar eclipse will fall on the winter
solstice.

With the full moon high in the winter sky, the lunar eclipse will be visible
from four continents, with the best views from North America and Central
America if weather permits, scientists say.

"It's a really democratic event," Andrew Fraknoi, the chairman of astronomy
at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, told the San Francisco Chronicle,
"because you don't need an expensive telescope or any other sophisticated
equipment to enjoy the spectacle -- just your eyes or, if you like, a pair
of binoculars."

Unlike a solar eclipse, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed
anywhere in the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.

That means portions of this particular lunar eclipse could also be seen from
northern and western Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including
Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from
the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii -- a potential viewing audience
of about 1.5 billion people, according to Space.com.

Total lunar eclipses in northern winter are fairly common - NASA says there
have been three of them in the past ten years alone. However, a lunar
eclipse falling precisely on the date of the solstice is quite unusual.

Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory inspected a list of eclipses
going back 2000 years for NASA.

"Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching
the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is 1638 DEC 21," Chester
said, according to NASA. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for
the next one ... that will be on 2094 DEC 21."

This year's event will take 3 hours and 38 minutes. The eclipse begins on
Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 1:33 a.m. ET, according to NASA. At that time, Earth's
shadow will appear as a dark-red mark at the edge of the moon. It will take
about an hour for the mark to expand and cover the entire moon. Totality
begins at 2:41 a.m. and lasts for 72 minutes.

During totality, the moon will be entirely immersed in the Earth's shadow,
but the moon will not disappear from sight. Instead, it should appear to
turn coppery red, as Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight into the shadow..

Since the Earth's shadow is cone-shaped and extends out into space for about
844,000 miles, sunlight will be strained through a sort of "double sunset,"
all around the rim of the Earth, into its shadow and then onto the moon,
according to Space.com.

If you're planning to dash out for only a quick minute, NASA recommends that
you choose this one: 3:17 a.m. ET. That's when the moon will be in deepest
shadow, displaying the most fantastic shade of copper red.

For more information on how often the December full moon coincides with the
solstice, see this explanation of Greenwich mean time and the resulting time
zones...

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/...est-day-years/

And for a graphic slide show of the lunar eclipse, see the websitehttp://www.shadowandsubstance.com.

Stupendous! Selenar Thank You to Lisa Holewa of AOL News !

Happy days *and*...
* *Starry, starry nights !

--
Are you sleeping?
*Stars are waiting,
Shining high, they wait for you.

Are you watching?
*Stars are soaring,
Flashing, twinkling just for you.

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUuVMhp-4pA

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS -http://painellsworth.net!
* * * * *http://astro.secretsgolden.com!
* * * * * * * * * *http://dailydares.secretsgolden.com!


And as in the old movie, the solar engines of the Moon men will grind
to a halt.

My dearest "Mark Earnest" wrote in message...
...
On Dec 19, 1:58 pm, "Painius" wrote:

As many as 1.5 billion people worldwide will be able to watch when the
Earth's shadow creeps across the moon's surface early Tuesday morning, the
first time in hundreds of years that a lunar eclipse will fall on the
winter
solstice.

With the full moon high in the winter sky, the lunar eclipse will be
visible
from four continents, with the best views from North America and Central
America if weather permits, scientists say.

And as in the old movie, the solar engines of the Moon men will grind
to a halt.

P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A

And on top of everything else, right then when the Moon enters
the umbra and spins a ruddy color, it's going to be CROWNING
the constellation ORION !

Everybody calls Orion "the hunter". Orion's packin' a SWORD !
Hunters pack spears, knives, bows and arrows -- but they don't
carry SWORDS ! So what do you say? Is Orion a hunter? or is
he a...
W A R R I O R !

Happy days *and*...
Starry, starry nights !

--
Are you sleeping?
Stars are waiting,
Shining high, they wait for you.

Are you watching?
Stars are soaring,
Flashing, twinkling just for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUuVMhp-4pA

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS - http://painellsworth.net !
http://astro.secretsgolden.com !
http://dailydares.secretsgolden.com !