U.S. left out for a rare celestial treat
Submitted by Sam Ross on June 13, 2011 - 10:44am
The first lunar eclipse will be fully visible from central Asia, eastern Africa, the Middle East and Western Australia. North American countries i.e. USA and Canada will not be able to see the spectacular celestial stuff.
Longer eclipse
The lunar eclipse will be a longer one and totality (the period when Earth completely blocks the moon by its shadow) will last for around 1 hour and 40 minutes. Last time on July 2000, moon was covered for 7 minute longer time period than this one.
Total Lunar Eclipse
Total lunar eclipse takes place during the full moon night. In it the moon comes into the long shadow of the Earth which blocks the sunlight that illuminates the moon.
As the moon goes into the shadow of the Earth, the disk of the moon gradually starts changing color from silver, orange and red. This happens because some of the light by passing through the earth’s atmosphere reaches the moon.
It is also difficult to predict where the shadow of the moon will exactly take place as it depends on the dust and clouds which are present in the atmosphere during the time of eclipse.
Fred Espenak who is NASA’s eclipse expert at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said that the lunar eclipse will be longer than usual because the moon will pass exactly from the centre of the earth’s shadow.
Even though the lunar eclipse will be a loner one, still the observers in Europe miss the initial part of the eclipse because it occur before the moon rise. The eastern Australia and eastern Asia will miss the concluding stages of the eclipse because it happens after the moon sets.
The North America will not catch the lunar eclipse, but some portions of the South America will see the moon going completely dark. The entire eclipse will last for around 5.1/2 hours.
The people who love watching these kinds of celestial activities will be able to see it with naked eyes as unlike the solar eclipse it does not cause any harm to the human eyes.
