Total Lunar Eclipse

Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC

Hopefully, the skies will be clear enough to view Wednesday night's TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE. As you see in the image above, courtesy of NASA, the FULL MOON will begin to enter the Earth's Shadow at 7:43pm Central Standard Time for us in central Alabama. The moon will continue to be covered by the Earth's shadow until 9:01pm CST.

Once the moon is totally covered by the Earth's shadow, the total lunar eclipse will last until 9:51pm CST. At this time, the moon will begin to come out of the Earth's shadow until 11:09pm CST.

If skies remain clear enough for your to view this total lunar eclipse, you will notice the moon having a reddish color during the period of total eclipse. The reason for the reddish color of the moon is actually due to sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere.

You see, the Earth's atmosphere acts like a prism that bends light according to the light's wavelength. As sunlight passes through the Earth's atmosphere, the Earth's atmosphere bends the light. While most of the sunlight is blocked by the Earth's shadow on the moon, red light, which is bent the least, passes through the Earth's atmosphere and continues all the way to the moon's surface. As a result, the moon looks somewhat red!

Unlike a solar eclipse, which is unsafe to watch with the unaided eye, a LUNAR ECLIPSE IS SAFE to watch.

So get ready to watch this interesting event on Wednesday night. Hopefully, clouds won't block your view.

If you miss this Total Lunar Eclipse, the next one for the United States is more than TWO Years Away on December 21, 2010.