This Week's Total Lunar Eclipse Is the Longest of the Century (washingtonpost.com) 52
On July 27, the moon is set to glide through Earth's shadow to create a red total lunar eclipse for one hour and 43 minutes -- the longest such eclipse of the young century. Viewers in the United States will have to watch the eclipse online as they're on the wrong side of the world. "Folks in western Africa, part of Europe, the Middle East and India will only have to look up to the sky to catch the deep-copper-toned totality in person," reports The Washington Post. From the report: "What makes the upcoming one special is that it occurs at nearly the same time as the year's second-most-distant lunar apogee (the monthly moment when the moon is most distant from Earth) and the moon passes almost smack through the center of Earth's shadow," astronomer Geoff Chester of the Naval Observatory said. He continued: "This will make it the longest-duration total lunar eclipse of the century. It's also cool that [the eclipse] occurs on the night that Mars reaches opposition, so (for people on the other side of the world) you'll have a red moon six degrees north of the Red Planet." All eclipses belong to eclipse families called saros. In this case, this eclipse is part of Saros 139, and it is No. 38 in a family of 71 that started June 10, 1351. This saros will last until July 24, 2613, per NASA. While technically this will be the longest eclipse of the century, the two previous lunar eclipses in this series -- July 16, 2000 (No. 37, Saros 139) and July 6, 1982 (No. 36, Saros 139) -- lasted longer than this one. In fact, the July 16, 2000, lunar eclipse lasted about three minutes longer. But remember, astronomers count the year 2000 as part of the last century.
Throughout the Eastern time zone, according to NASA and the U.S. Naval Observatory, the lunar eclipse (penumbral phase) starts at 1:14 p.m. and partiality occurs at 2:24 p.m. Totality starts at 3:30 p.m., with the maximum totality at 4:21 p.m. Totality will end at 5:13 p.m., and the partial eclipse ends at 6:19 p.m. Everything is over by 7:28 p.m. Unfortunately, the moon will not have risen anywhere in the United States for viewing during this window. If you're not able to watch it locally, you can tune to the Weather Channel app, the website Slooh, or TimeandDate.com. The NBC News streaming network is also showing the eclipse at 4 p.m. on July 27.
Throughout the Eastern time zone, according to NASA and the U.S. Naval Observatory, the lunar eclipse (penumbral phase) starts at 1:14 p.m. and partiality occurs at 2:24 p.m. Totality starts at 3:30 p.m., with the maximum totality at 4:21 p.m. Totality will end at 5:13 p.m., and the partial eclipse ends at 6:19 p.m. Everything is over by 7:28 p.m. Unfortunately, the moon will not have risen anywhere in the United States for viewing during this window. If you're not able to watch it locally, you can tune to the Weather Channel app, the website Slooh, or TimeandDate.com. The NBC News streaming network is also showing the eclipse at 4 p.m. on July 27.
Nice, but... (Score:3)
lunar eclipses aren't that spectacular. Like going through a full cycle of moon phases in one night. But still, you should have watched one.
Re:Nice, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
lunar eclipses aren't that spectacular.
Because you're not at the right place. It's way more spectacular from the moon.
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Insightfull,
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Hehe, good point. Although what would then be a solar eclipse from the moon is still not as spectacular as a solar eclipse from earth where the similar angular size of the moon and sun enable us to see the sun's magnificent corona. You would get to see though, the atmosphere of the earth light up like a thin ring [kaguya.jaxa.jp], which while less spectacular than the corona (at least for repeated viewings) would certainly give you more food for thought.
To get back to the original topic, a lunar eclipse can be beautiful in
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There are - ask the Chinese!
Chang'e 3 is fully operational (except for the rover.)
Re: Nice, but... (Score:1)
The earth would be surrounded by a bright red halo. The view of a million simultaneous sunrises and sunsets. That's why the moon often turns red during totality.
I am Reedy (Score:1)
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Especially considering that 9 out of 10 times the paywalled articles copy/paste from Wikipedia, and all they really add is the ads around it.
If you're wondering if and when you can see it (Score:5, Informative)
https://www.timeanddate.com/ec... [timeanddate.com]
Year 2000 (Score:5, Insightful)
But remember, astronomers count the year 2000 as part of the last century.
EVERYBODY counts year 2000 as part of last century. When you count to 10, you go 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and if you want to count 10 more, what do you do ? You start at 11, oh what a shocker ! Same for years and decades, centuries or millenia.
Re:Year 2000 (Score:5, Informative)
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EVERYBODY counts year 2000 as part of last century.
No. Don't assume that just because you start counting at 1 you apply that example to people who weren't alive long enough to count back 2000 years. The reality is mentally there is no connection between the year 0 vs 1 and the year 2000 vs 2001. There is however plenty to mentally link the number 19 and 20 to a change in century.
To be honest everyone seems kind of split on the topic. Historians and religious people would correctly agree that 2000 was part of the 20th century from 1901 to 2000 inclusive. The
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We just refer to that as Clinton 8 [slashdot.org].
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If that were true all the millennium parties were one year too early.
Units are important (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are we useing Eastern Standard Time for an event that cannot be seen there?
GMT is the standard. And there is some visibility.
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You work at the CIA (California Institute for the Arts)?
Lunacy (Score:3)
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Lemme guess, last Wednesday lightning struck the old records hall and it burned down?
Flat Earthers (Score:1)
I genuinely want to know how Flat Earthers explain the lunar eclipse?
For hilarity.
Re:Flat Earthers (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm pretty sure you'll find plenty of explanations in the next couple days on YouTube.
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hologram camera maintenance break.
Re: Mystery of Lawlessness (Score:1)
The phases of the moon result from a relative change in the location of the light source on a sphere. An eclipse is the result of a spherical object moving into a circular shadow. It isn't the same effect and it wont look exactly the same.
A once in a lifetime for some (Score:4, Interesting)
Info Page (Score:2)
Here's the NASA info page about it, including all of the times in UTC (as they should be!): https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/... [nasa.gov]
And NASA's details on Saros 129: https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/... [nasa.gov]
Flash! (Score:2)
... no cause for alarm.