Total eclipse of the moon 21st Feb 2008

[Sonia]

Across the whole of the UK. An early morning event running through to the start of dawn so an alarm might be in order. The transition occurs between the two regions isnt sharp, and as the moon moes through the outer penumbra toward the umbra, a definite darkening occurs along one edge of the Moon until eventually the dark umbra makes itself known as a dark bite encrouching on the surface. The umbra is the earths shadow which the sunlight is blocked. The atmosphere is refracted which decreases the dark of the umbra. The moon will be redish or a hue.

First contact @ 00h 35m
Umbral contact @ 01h 43m
Start of totality @ 03h 01m
Greatest eclipse @ 03h 26m
end of totslity @ 03h 52m
Last umbral contact @ 05h 09m
Last penumbral contact @ 06h 17m

[Outbackmanyep]

You better get some pics Sonia! The last one you got was awesome! Any chance of that happening??

[Sonia]

Depends how tired i am..

[Rosemarie]

Hi there guys, am I right in assuming that we in aus will not have the opportunity to see this. Can anyone give me an idea of when in sydney time this will be occurring..........22nd of feb sometime? Had someone come into work asking today, I assume that I hadnt heard of it because it is on the other side of the world.

Info would be great if its out there. (by the way I just happen to be having another rooftop party on the 22nd so this will be a nice coincidence even if it is only conceptually)

Rosemarie

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Rosemarie.

Unfortunately we won't see this at all in AU or NZ.

The next total lunar eclipse for Australia isn't for another few years

[Outbackmanyep]

This will not be visible from Australia unfortunately! But i hope the party goes well!!!!!

You need to be in South America, Eastern USA and Northern Canada to view this one!

Cheers!

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Originally Posted by iceman

The next total lunar eclipse for Australia isn't for another few years

But we do get a partial on the morning of the 17th of August 2008. Looks like about 50% umbra before it drops below the horizon.

[Dobbs (Anthony)]

Finally!!!!

Oh god its like that hour before you pick a girl up for a date. What am i gonna wear???

Holy crap 3.30.........AM !!!!!

Enthusiasm waning.

This will be visible from northern Italy right?

[citivolus (Ric)]

You can still catch most of the juicy bits from Italy, but it will be low in the sky at the time. Do you have any mountains to the west of you?

Here is a visibility map:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclips...Feb21-Map1.GIF

from http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclips...2008Feb21.html

Regards,
Eric

[Dobbs (Anthony)]

No, no mountains to the west but also no access to a westerly facing window so I'm gonna have to go outside.

Gee whiz its going to be fresh, -3 or there abouts. If it wasn't my first one I'd give it a miss.

Thanks for the links Eric most appreciated.

Cheers

Anthony

[citivolus (Ric)]

Originally Posted by Dobbs

Gee whiz its going to be fresh, -3 or there abouts. If it wasn't my first one I'd give it a miss.

My first lunar eclipse was when I was about 13. I was living in Canada, it was the middle of winter, 3:15am, and about -30C. I had to be content using the binoculars through a window

Good luck to you, I hope it isn't too cold!

Eric

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Lucky you Sonia.
I hope you do make the effort to capture a few shots for us.

[Outbackmanyep]

Apparently they were clouded out in UK, CLOUDS SUCK!

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by Outbackmanyep

Apparently they were clouded out in UK, CLOUDS SUCK!

thats not good news - some good pics on spaceweather

[Sonia]

I was looking forward to seeing this since january! Damn those clouds!!!!

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

One of my online photography pals, Tom from Waukesha in the USA, took this image at near totality.
How lucky are they to have had Saturn so close.
The rest of his images are at http://flickr.com/photos/24015364@N06/.

[erick (Eric)]

Hey that is neat! I didn't realise the eclipsed Moon was going to be close to Saturn and Regulus. I think you see them both in his photo IMG_0655. A quick scan of Spaceweather photos doesn't show any of these widefields capturing all three.

I had a quick look at Stellarium's prediction for somewhere in the UK - attached.