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by **cameron_roxburgh** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:37 am

Watch the Moon disappear

LOOK UP into the sky tonight , and you will see the Moon start shrinking.
The event is a total lunar eclipse, with observers able to see the Moon enter into the Earth’s shadow from 10.20pm.

The eclipse’s peak will occur at a quarter past midnight and according to the Cyprus Astronomical Society, will last for 73 minutes. The celestial show ends at 4.20am on Sunday morning.

The Astronomical Society issued a press releases which stated: “For those who wish to better understand and observe this phenomenon, we will, in co-operation with Strovolos Municipality, be having an Astronomy Night at Acropolis Park in Nicosia.

There, the society’s members will have set up telescopes and will be ready to show you the Moon the way you have probably never seen it before as well as answer any questions you might have about the phenomenon or astronomy in general.”

The previous lunar eclipse visible from Cyprus occurred on September 7, 2006, with the last total eclipse occurring on May 4, 2004. The next total eclipse is due to take place on June 11, 2011.

Ioannis Fakas, Director of the Fakas Institute in Nicosia, told the Mail: “I advise everybody to take a look at the Moon tomorrow evening as this is a rare phenomenon which is very beautiful.”

The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday, however, is for periods of cloud cover, making visibility difficult. “I’d like to be a bit optimistic though,” said Kyriacos Theofilou, head of the Weather Services. “Since the eclipse will have a duration of several hours, I am hopeful that people will be able to see it at some point.”

An eclipse refers to the phenomenon of one body passing into the shadow cast by another body. In astronomy, the best-known type of eclipse occurs whenever the Sun, Earth and Moon line up exactly.

A lunar eclipse can only occur at full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow.

The Moon’s speed through the shadow is about one kilometre per second. It does not completely disappear as it passes through the shadow because of the refraction of sunlight by the Earth’s atmosphere into the shadow cone. The amount of refracted light depends on the amount of clouds or dust in the atmosphere blocking the light.
Refracted sunlight causes the Moon to glow with a coppery-red hue that varies from one eclipse to the next.

When an eclipse of the Moon takes place, everyone on the night side of Earth can see it. About 35 per cent of all eclipses are very difficult to detect, even with a telescope. Another 30 per cent are partial eclipses, which are easy to see with the unaided eye. The final 35 per cent or so are total eclipses, and these are quite extraordinary events to behold.

Man first recorded a lunar eclipse on March 19, 721 BC, based on Babylonian sources.

“In ancient times, people became afraid during an eclipse as they didn’t understand what was happening and asked themselves why the Moon was disappearing,” said Fakas.

by **devil** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:16 am

Judging from other threads, there's a fairish chance that, by that hour, some of the members here are eclipsed. Not just tonight, but every Friday and/or Saturday night!