Total lunar eclipse on June 15, 2011
Wednesday will be a big day for skywatchers in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and the Middle East—–the locations in prime position to witness the longest total lunar eclipse since July 2000.
There are two lunar eclipses this year and this event is the first for 2011. The eclipse, which will happen during a full moon in June and will start from 1:24 p.m. EDT to 7 p.m. EDT, will not be seen from North America. Central America and Scotland.
The 100-minute eclipse will be an amazing sight for observers in the regions where it will be visible. SPACE.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao said the duration of this eclipse is rivaled only by three other eclipses in the last 100 years. A similarly length eclipse which occurred for 107 minutes occurred on July 16, 2000.
“The entire event will be seen from the eastern half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and western Australia,” stated the NASA Eclipse Website of the June 15 event. “Observers throughout Europe will miss the early stages of the eclipse because they occur before moonrise.”
Partial lunar eclipse will however be seen in the eastern part of South America.
Total lunar eclipses happen when the moon travels through the deep shadow which is cast when the Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun.
“From the Earth, the moon will appear to darken and turn a deep red before eventually returning to normal,” explained NASA officials at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in an advisory.
“When light from the sun goes by the side of the Earth, it passes through a long and thick layer of Earth’s atmosphere. Shorter wavelengths of sunlight, like blue, are scattered by the atmosphere, so by the time the light has finished its trip to the moon, more of the longer wavelengths, like red, are left over. On the Earth, the same thing happens at sunset as the ground you stand on gradually passes into night.”
The lunar eclipses are safe to view even without equipment or special protective glasses unlike the solar eclipses.
Rao said the eclipse will happen Wednesday evening in the west coast of Africa, Western Europe and South America. NASA officials said the total stage of the eclipse will be seen by skywatchers in Argentina, Uruguay and eastern Brazil.
Rao said some countries will be able to view the eclipse in the wee hours of Thursday including New Zealand, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Korea, Japan, northeast China and Mongolia.
“Eastern Asia, eastern Australia, and New Zealand will miss the last stages of eclipse because they occur after moonset,” the NASA Eclipse Website advisory stated.
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