Posted in HomeSchooling

I just wanted to send you a quick reminder about the Total Lunar Eclipse tonight (Wednesday, February 20th). We will not have another one like this until December 2010, so you will not want to miss it. Totality will last for 52 minutes and begins at the following times:

Pacific Standard Time - 7:00 pm
Mountain Standard Time - 8:00 pm
Central Standard Time - 9:00 pm
Eastern Standard Time - 10:00 pm

The 5 Stages of a Lunar Eclipse

Although the moon is totally engulfed in the Earth’s shadow between  7:00 pm and 7:52, there are other stages that the Moon goes through before and after these times.

Stage 1 - Technically, the eclipse begins when the edge of the Moon enters the penumbra, or outer fringe of the Earth’s shadow.  This stage of the eclipse can be difficult to see because the shading of the penumbra is very slight.  Most will not be able to discern the shading of the Moon during this stage until the edge of the Moon is about half way across the penumbra.

Stage 2- The next stage is called the partial eclipse.  This takes place when the Moon’s edge crosses the umbra, which is the inner part of the Earth’s shadow.  In the umbra, no direct sunlight is reaching the Moon.  Relatively speaking, this stage happens fairly quickly.  You can actually stand and watch the Earth’s shadow creep slowly across the Moon’s surface as each minutes passes by!  Furthermore, you should be able to discern the curved edge of the Earth’s shadow indicating the reality that our Earth is round.

Stage 3 – This is totality.  This is when the entire Moon is in the umbra.  For 52 minutes, the Moon will be completely engulfed in the Earth’s shadow.

Stage 4 – This is the partial eclipse all over again.  From here, the first two stages happen again in reverse.

Stage 5 – Final pass through the penumbra.  This slow fading takes about another 40 minutes.  When it is all over, the Moon will be back to normal.

The Rusty Moon

You will notice that during a Total Lunar Eclipse, the Moon is never blacked out.  It simply turns a pale, reddish-orange, rusty color.  The reason for this may surprise you.  It actually comes from the various sunrises and sunsets that are taking place across the Earth at the same time.

Picture yourself standing on the Moon for a moment while the eclipse is taking place.  You would see the Earth blocking the light from the Sun.  This would make a brilliant ring around the Earth colored by sunset and sunrise colored light.

The Earth’s atmosphere bends and scatters this sunset and sunrise light and casts some of it into the Earth’s shadow causing some of it to end up on the Moon’s surface during a Lunar Eclipse.  Pretty neat, huh?