Clear skies are expected over the GTA tonight for a total eclipse of the moon.
"Looks good to me," Environment Canada meteorologist Gilles Coulombe said yesterday, predicting a 70 per cent cloud-free sky.
The moon is to appear high in the southern sky when the Earth's shadow begins to travel across the lunar surface from left to right at 8:42p.m. Total eclipse is to last from 10p.m. to 10:51p.m., with the moon emerging from shadow at 12:09a.m. Unlike a solar eclipse, no special eye protection is necessary to watch the event, caused when the Earth comes between the sun and the moon.
Once completely in shadow, the moon is illuminated only by light diffracted in the Earth's atmosphere. "As it goes into shadow, the moon a lot of times will turn a coppery red or orange colour," said Brian Cheaney, who teaches astronomy in schools under the name Cosmic Connections.
"What's neat about that is that the brightness of the colour tells us a little about the atmosphere here on Earth," he said. "We had a very bright eclipse last Aug. 28. The moon was bright, orangey red, meaning the atmosphere was clear, which is a good thing."
Total lunar eclipses come in bunches. Within a year to 18 months there can be two or three somewhere on Earth, followed by two or three years without any.
Cheaney is hosting a free public sky party with telescopes tonight at Father John Kelly Catholic Elementary school in Maple.
Similarly, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is throwing a free sky party at the Ontario Science Centre. More details are available at toronto.rasc.ca.
"Don't miss it," Cathy McWatters said of the eclipse. She is an astronomy teacher who travels to schools with a portable, inflatable planetarium and has helped organize an Arctic boat trip this summer to view a total solar eclipse Aug. 1 off Somerset Island.
The solar eclipse will only be visible in Canada from the High Arctic, but tonight's lunar eclipse will be visible from anywhere in the country without cloud cover.
Saturn is also expected to be visible to the left of the moon, Cheaney said. "Saturn is just coming out in the evening sky now and we will see it for the next six months," he said.
Hah... I called a bunch of people and told them, after it had started.
Didn't know the eclipse was going to happen, but I noticed the moon was pinkish around 7 pm and thought to myself, "Hey self, the moon looks just like it does right before an eclipse."
It was a perfect view from my front yard. Clear sky and glorious.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Favorite quote from 2007: Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
Originally posted by Gidget: It was a perfect view from my front yard. Clear sky and glorious.
Same here. I had a perfect view. It was amazing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
