Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Dec20
by kevin on December 20, 2010 at 12:34 and modified on December 20, 2010. at 12:39
Posted In: astronomy

We are firming up our plans for the total lunar eclipse monday
night/tuesday morning.
Kim & I plan to get up around 02:00 tuesday morning Dec 21st.
Totality is supposed to start about 02:41 EST hmm. these is conflicting data from wikipedia .. ok skip that.
Turning to the RASC Observers handbook… hmmm have to find the book first.. then have to find the page…
you know, it would be a *good thing* to have the book available online in electronic format… I’ve just spent 10 minutes looking for my paper copy .. would have been mere seconds in the members only section… if it existed.

U2 (total eclipse start) is 07:40:47 UT or 02:40:47 EST

U3 (total eclipse ends) is 08:53:08 UT or 03:53 EST
or 73 minutes of totality.

Our plans are for the allsky camera to be working that evening and image the entire night as normal.
See an animated image of the *last* total lunar eclipse we saw in February 2008 http://starlightcascade.ca/concam/special/lunar20080220.gif
We also plan to get a video camera up and running on a tracking schmidt cass telescope and try to keep it in the field of view. The last eclipse we ran into issues with too high a power, the inability to track on the moon, etc.

We also plan to take digital camera images over the course of the
morning as well. Unfortunately it is a work day, so part of the plan is to get to sleep early monday evening to try and keep us from getting fired on Tuesday for sleeping on the job 🙂

What are *you* planning for observing???

From http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/17dec_solsticeeclipse/

The eclipse begins on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am EST (Monday, Dec. 20th, at 10:33 pm PST). At that time, Earth’s shadow will appear as a dark-red bite at the edge of the lunar disk. It takes about an hour for the “bite” to expand and swallow the entire Moon. Totality commences at 02:41 am EST (11:41 pm PST) and lasts for 72 minutes.

If you’re planning to dash out for only one quick look -­ it is December, after all -­ choose this moment: 03:17 am EST (17 minutes past midnight PST). That’s when the Moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red.