"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come." Joel 2:31
Stargazers Watch Total Lunar Eclipse
Yahoo News!
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
LONDON - The moon darkened, reddened, and turned shades of gray and orange Saturday night during the first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years, thrilling stargazers and astronomers around the world.
The Earth's shadow took over six hours to crawl across the moon's surface, eating it into a crescent shape before engulfing it completely in a spectacle at least partly visible on every continent.
About a dozen amateur astronomers braved the cold and mud outside the Croydon Observatory in southeast London to watch the start of the eclipse.
"It's starting to go!" said Alex Gikas, 8, a Cub Scout who was studying for his astronomy badge. "I've never seen anything like it before. I'm really excited."
By the time greatest eclipse, shortly after 5:44 p.m. EST, the light of the full moon was replaced by near-total obscurity.
"It was really very dark," said Paul Harper, Chairman of the Croydon Astronomical Society, who estimated that moon had lost over four-fifths of its luminosity. "It was quite a nice one."
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, an uncommon event because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.
Sunlight still reaches the moon during total eclipses, but it is refracted through Earth's atmosphere, bathing the moon in an eerie crimson light.
Mike Ealay, a 60-year-old architect who wandered over to the observatory to watch the eclipse, said the red color of the moon made it look like a close-up version of Mars.
"I think it's quite exciting. It's like having the red planet on your doorstep," he said.
Despite cloudy conditions over much of Europe, a variety of Webcasts carried the event live, and astronomers urged the public not to miss out on the spectacle.
"It's not an event that has any scientific value, but it's something everybody can enjoy," said Robert Massey, of Britain's Royal Astronomical Society.
The moon's red blush faded as it began moving out of Earth's shadow just after 8 p.m. EST. The eclipse ended a little more than hour later.
Residents of east Asia saw the eclipse cut short by moonset, while those in the eastern parts of North and South America had the moon already partially or totally eclipsed by the time it rose over the horizon in the evening.
While eastern Australia, Alaska and New Zealand missed Saturday's show, they will have front row seats to the next total lunar eclipse, on Aug. 28.
Red Moon...Precursor to Judgment? See www.RedMoonRising.com (Use Discernment)
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Lunar eclipse wows sky watchers
The coppery moon was clearly visible across much of Britain Sky watchers across the world have been enjoying the first total lunar eclipse in more than three years.
The eclipse began at 2018 GMT, with the Moon totally immersed in the shadow of the Earth between 2244 and 2358 GMT.
During "totality" the Moon took on a reddish hue; the only light reaching its surface by this stage had been filtered through Earth's atmosphere. The eclipse was visible from the whole of Europe, Africa, South America, and eastern parts of the US and Canada.
The copper-red Moon was visible across large areas of the UK thanks to clear skies.
TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
Occurs when Moon passes into Earth's shadow
Penumbra: Region where Earth blocks some (but not all) Sun rays
Umbra: Zone where Earth blocks all direct sunlight - total eclipse
Lunar eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in a near-perfect line in space.
Eclipse will be a red moon rising
SPECTACULAR SKY SHOW: The lunar surface will appear as a deep red disc on the East coast.
Red moon over Miami. And Fort Lauderdale. And especially the beaches. A spectacular sky show is scheduled for sunset Saturday as a totally eclipsed full moon rises over the ocean.
If the weather gods are kind and the sky is clear, the lunar surface will appear as a deep red disc that brightens into moon glow as Earth's curved shadow slowly recedes.
If the weather gods are kind and the sky is clear, the lunar surface will appear as a deep red disc that brightens into moon glow as Earth's curved shadow slowly recedes.
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