Total Lunar Eclipse Wed. Night

[Jolie Rouge]

Earthlings are about to be treated to a total lunar eclipse. Between 10:23 and 11:45 pm EDT, the moon will resemble a glowing pumpkin.


The year 2004 is shaping up to be a memorable one for the Moon. Wednesday night brings us a total lunar eclipse visible throughout the country, while at the same time NASA begins preparations to return to the Moon with its new focus on exploration.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/67330main_shadow.jpg
Lunar eclipses can only take place during a full Moon when the Moon passes into the dark portion of the Earth's shadow, called the umbra.


Lunar eclipses are one of the most beautiful and easiest celestial events to witness - just walk outside and look up - no telescopes or special glasses required. During totality, Earth casts a reddish-colored shadow over the Moon lasting over an hour.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/67306main1_totality1.jpg

The actual color of the Moon depends on air quality. If a major eruption had resulted at Mt. St. Helens, for example, the shadow would appear darker. This photograph was taken in Greece during the Jan. 9, 2001 lunar eclipse


"The basic interest in lunar eclipses is that it's a chance to gauge the quality of the Earth's atmosphere by judging and making measurements of the coloration of the moon," said Dr. Fred Espenak, NASA Astronomer. "If we have major dust storms off the Sahara Desert, big forest fires, or more specifically, a major volcanic eruption which throws lots of material up into the Earth's stratosphere, this can sharply color and darken the Moon during that total phase."

Because the active volcanic eruption events at Mt. St. Helens have been largely steam with little ash, Wednesday's Moon should appear bright and coppery red during totality, between 10:23 and 11:45 pm EDT. For times throughout the U.S., just factor in your time zone.


www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/lunar1027.html




Eclipse Guide & Webcast - http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2004Oct28/TLE2004Oct28.html


Lunar Eclipse Background - http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/watchtheskies/13oct_lunareclipse.html

[Jolie Rouge]

Total Lunar Eclipse: October 27-28, 2004
Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC
sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2004Oct28/TLE2004Oct28.html

--- Live Webcast of Eclipse! ---


Introduction

The last eclipse of 2004 occurs on the evening of Wednesday, October 27 (in Europe, the eclipse occurs during the early morning hours of Thursday, October 28). This event is a total eclipse of the Moon which will be visible from North and South America as well as Europe, Africa and Antarctica. During such an eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

If the Moon passes through only part on the umbra, a partial eclipse is seen. However, if the entire Moon passes through the umbral shadow, then a total eclipse of the Moon occurs. For more information on how, what, why, where and when of lunar eclipses, see the special web page lunar eclipses for beginners www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html .


http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2004Oct28/image/TLE2004Oct-EDTs.GIF


Visibility of the Total Lunar Eclipse of October 27-28, 2004
October's lunar eclipse is well-placed for North and South America as well as western Europe and Africa. From the United States, the eastern two-thirds of the country will see the entire eclipse (weather permitting). In the western third of the USA, the faint penumbral phase begins before moonrise but this is the least interesting and dramatic part of the eclipse. The more important and photogenic partial and total phases will be visible from all of North America with the exception of Alaska. From the Alaskan panhandle, the partial phases begin at moonrise, but further west the Moon will rise during totality.

Canada also witnesses the entire eclipse as does Central and South America. From western Europe, the eclipse occurs during the early morning hours of Thursday, October 28. The Moon sets during totality from East Africa, the Middle East and central Asia. India and western China will only see the early penumbral stages before the Moon sets. Further east, none of the eclipse is visible from Japan, eastern China, southeast Asia, Indonesia, Australia or New Zealand.


http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2004Oct28/image/TLE2004Oct-Map1s.GIF

The map above shows the geographic regions of visibility for each phase of the eclipse. The entire eclipse is visible from start to finish in the white (unshaded) portion of the map, while none of the eclipse can be seen from the dark gray areas.



{{honestly -- click the links -- there is way more information than I can post here }}

[Jolie Rouge]

Lunar eclipse on Wednesday night
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Posted: 2:58 PM EDT (1858 GMT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Earthlings are about to be treated to a total lunar eclipse, just in time for Halloween.

For more than an hour Wednesday night, the moon will be covered entirely by Earth's shadow and resemble a glowing pumpkin.

With the Earth passing directly between the sun and the moon, the only light hitting the full moon will be from the home planet's sunrises and sunsets, thus the orange and red hue.

It will be a late-night show for people in North and South America and a pre-dawn display early Thursday for those in Europe and western Africa.

Aside from their entertainment value, total lunar eclipses give scientists a chance to assess the quality of Earth's atmosphere. Ash from volcanic eruptions, for example, can make an eclipsed moon look much darker. The recent eruptions of Mount St. Helens in Washington have consisted of far more steam than ash, and therefore the moon should appear bright and coppery red on Wednesday night, NASA said.

The next total eclipse of the moon will not be until March 2007.


www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/26/lunar.eclipse.ap/index.html

[Jolie Rouge]

Cassini flies by Saturn's moon
Spacecraft makes historic pass
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Posted: 4:26 PM EDT (2026 GMT)

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/space/10/26/space.cassini.reut/story.titan.nasa.jpg
Scientists believe Saturn's moon, Titan, has oceans of liquid methane and ethane on its frozen surface.


LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- NASA's Cassini orbiter had its closest encounter with Saturn's smog-shrouded moon, Titan, Tuesday, but scientists must wait to see their first glimpse of its icy surface.

The historic flight past Titan occurred at 9:45 a.m. PDT Tuesday, but the spacecraft cannot collect and send data simultaneously. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, must wait until 9:30 p.m. ET for the spacecraft to start transmitting its data from the moon's surface.

Larger than the planets Pluto and Mercury, Titan is the only known moon with an atmosphere. It is believed to have oceans of liquid methane and ethane on its frozen surface and a nitrogen-rich atmosphere that may hold clues to how Earth's atmosphere evolved.

The flyby of Titan was expected to go smoothly in space, but bad weather on Earth could affect Cassini's transmissions to the Deep Space Network, scientists said.

Cassini has only one chance to send data back to Earth before it is overwritten with data from its next set of observations, scientists said.

The orbiter is carrying 12 scientific instruments, including spectrometers, infrared cameras and radar designed to pierce the moon's dense atmosphere and "reveal a whole new world," Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Charles Elachi said.

The spacecraft is also carrying a European Space Agency probe called Huygens that will parachute to Titan's surface at year's end to collect data from the mysterious moon.

Tuesday's flyby is one of 45 planned for Cassini's four-year mission to explore Saturn and its moons.




http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/26/space.cassini.reut/index.html

[the1bea]

Yes it is going on, who knows if we can see it with this darned weather we be gots in ID. But astrologically speaking, we should be able to **feel** what is going on...
http://astrologyzone.com/forecasts/eclipse.html Which if you believe in astrology, the lunar eclipse should have some affect.