Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight

chuckpeters writes "A total lunar eclipse will soon darken the full moon for most of North and South America, Europe, and Africa. The Moon rises about five p.m. EST and the eclipse will be in penumbra. Totality begins at 8:06 p.m. EST. and ends at 8:31 PM EST and the partial eclipse ends at 10:45 PM. EST" To obtain the time and location for your area, use the Lunar Computer. It looks like the weather will cooperate and we will have clear skies for most of the country. Articles can be found at NASA, Space.com, Sky and Telescope, and Starry Skies."

Nice

[KD5YPT]

Wow, we get to see the moon go out. This is cool. Since we're talking about lunar eclipses, I would like to share some cultural things.

In Taiwan, it was believed traditionally that the lunar eclipse is caused by a massive dog who ate the moon. So during lunar eclipse, everyone took out their cooking pans, pots and stuff and hit them with utensil in hope to scare the dog into spitting the moon back out.

Just some interesting info.

Lunar Eclipse

[Aneurysm]

I saw a complete lunar eclipse over Cornwall in the UK about 12 years ago, when I was about 8. It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen, as I have never witnessed the sky so clear, and seen so many stars. I recommend having a look at the Milky Way whilst the eclipse is at totality. I think I enjoyed the Lunar Eclipse better than the Solar Eclipse that appeared right over Cornwall in 1999, as it was just too cloudy.

Re:good star map software?

[spaceyhackerlady]

I like xephem. It even shows details of the eclipse tonight.

The astronomy of the eclipse is borderline here: the eclipse is in progress when the moon rises. The weather is also borderline, alas, but I'll see what happens.

The last lunar eclipse here (back in May) was 95% clouded out, with just a few glimpses through breaks in the clouds toward the end. But the one I saw before that (Toronto, 21 January 2000) was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, with a coppery grey ash burnt-out thing in the sky where the moon should have been. Magic!

...laura

Re:There is an interesting reference to this ....

[geekwench]

Umm, I don't remember any reference to this in Bulfinch's, and a quick glance through it didn't turn up a story along these lines (although it is late, and I'm pretty tired, having spent a fun evening taking photos of the eclipse.) Some material can be found at Bulfinch's Online. [bulfinch.org]
The druids, however, were not a tribe themselves, but rather a priestly caste among the early Celtic peoples. (Druid priest is therefore somewhat redundant.) They were also responsible for law, the pronouncement of legal judgements, and keeping of history. It's not entirely accurate to say that they had no written language, as they did have a system of writing; it just wasn't particularly widespread. Reason being, the lawyers (brehon) and bards had to memorize everything -- without changing or forgetting a single word -- during their training, which lasted about 20 years.

Now, lest this be completely off-topic, there's some reasonably educated speculation that Stonehenge could [space.com] have been used as an astronomical calendar [tivas.org.uk] for both lunar and solar observations. Apparently, the lunar calculations are pretty accurate, for people without slide rules. (Not necesssarily the druids, although they are firmly linked to Stonehenge in popular imagination.)

As I said at first: don't know where you read the story, but a mis-timed eclipse isn't the most likely culprit for the downfall of the early Celts (or the druids.) We have Julius Caesar to thank for that one. ;)