I was just reading Deborah Byrd’s post, “Imagine a city illuminated by moonlight,” about city planning that includes lighting adjusted to the variable intensities of the moon light. The whole post and reader comments put me in a dreamy state of mind, so I was very struck by some other imaginative moon talk in news just released by NASA. Looking ahead to a spectacular summer finale, the wee morning hours before dawn on August 28th is the next total lunar eclipse, and scientists tell us to expect to see the moon turn otherworldly colors of sunset reds, with copper moondust and golden hills. The photo above was taken during a similar lunar eclipse in March 2007 by moon gazers Antonio Finazzi and Michele Festa in Festa of Lago di Garda, Italy. For a larger image, click here. The full explanation of why this happens, including a map and timetable of the event can be found in NASA’s science pages as well as more about eclipses in general. Read more about it, and get into a dreamy Dog Days state of mind for a late summertime celestial show!
Heads up and eyes to the moon before dawn on August 28th
Published August 3rd, 2007 in Lunar eclipse, Celestial event, Eclipses, Natural phenomena, Moon and Uncategorized.
7 Responses to “Heads up and eyes to the moon before dawn on August 28th”
- 1 Pingback on Aug 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Yay, this will be my first gazing of a total lunar eclipse (I’ve never kept up with it until this year after the last one).
Wow!
That picture is gorgeous.
If the coming eclipse’s half that beautiful, it’ll definitely worth waking up early for.
I look forward to this event and hope to be in central Texas where the night sky is fairly dark. Had to laugh at the author though–NASA clearly has never sent him to Houston. In both north and central Texas we will be fortunate to be as low as 80 degrees at 4 or 5 am in August.
I live in Maui Hawaii, on the rainforest side and in the middle of nowhere. Tonight is a perfect star night and perfect for viewing the eclipse. It is amazing. My camera is not capturing it. So I just wanted to share….It is truly amazing. It has gone from Orange to now just showing spotlight of brighter light coming off the edge like a spotlight in the sky….what a blessing.
Here is what my amature camera caught, nothing detailed but captures the essense and splender. Photo credit: www.4mauihawaii.com. Glad to share the experience.
Thanks 4mauihawaii for the photo of the eclipse seen from there on Maui. I watched last night from about 4:00AM until about 6:00AM here in Texas. Even from my driveway outside my kitchen door in the middle of the city of Austin, it was magnificent. I can only imagine how splendid it was over the island of Maui.