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On Wednesday night, February 20, the moon will be completely blocked from sunlight by the shadow of the Earth, causing a lunar eclipse. This will be the last lunar eclipse until 2010. Source NASA. Graphic by Chrislynn Mabul.

First lunar eclipse of '08 to take place tonight

By: Taylor Short and Josh Armstrong

Posted: 2/20/08

The first total lunar eclipse since Aug. 28 will take place Wednesday, and the astronomy faculty is ready to gaze at the moon.

NT's Urban Astronomy Center will host a Total Lunar Eclipse Preview Wednesday night from 9-10 p.m. The event will be open to students, faculty, staff and guests.

The eclipse will be visible to most of North America and parts of Western Europe, Western Asia and Africa. During the eclipse, the moon will display striking colors, from bright turquoise to blood red to rusty brown.

The eclipse will be the first of two to occur this year, though only tonight's will be a total lunar eclipse. The next total lunar eclipse will not happen until 2010.

Cheryl Lawler of the physics faculty said the color changes are because of the sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere.

"At first, it will look like there's a black bite out of it," Lawler said. "As it reaches totality, it will change to a deep red or brown-orange."

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is directly between the Sun and the moon. It requires a full moon that passes through some part of the Earth's shadow. Earth's shadow consists of two areas: an outer shadow, called a penumbra, and the inner shadow, the umbra.

As it passes into the penumbra, the moon's edge will begin to look blue. During this early phase, the sunlight is passing through the edge of Earth's atmosphere.

Totality begins once the entire moon enters the umbra. In this phase, the moon is completely cut off from direct sunlight.

"If our planet did not have an atmosphere, the eclipse would be solid black," Lawler said. "But since the Earth does, the atmosphere bends the light so only the long wavelengths, like red and orange light, reach the moon's surface."

Color and brightness can vary. A dark eclipse is caused by volcanic gas and dust in the atmosphere, but since no volcanic activity has occurred recently, Wednesday's eclipse will probably display a bright orange and red hue.

The type and length of an eclipse depends on the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes. A node is the point where the orbit of the moon crosses the path of the sun. Tonight's eclipse is projected to last approximately 3 hours and 28 minutes, with the total eclipse lasting about 50 minutes.

"The last one I watched, I stepped outside my front door, looked to the south and there it was," said NT lecturer Cheryl Lawler.

Ron DiIulio, NT's astronomy labs director, offers an invitation for NT students, faculty, staff and their guests to visit the Urban Astronomy Center Wednesday night. He said attendees should bring a form of NT identification and check the forecast as the event is subject to cloudy weather.

"We will be offering the use of telescopes so people can come get a picture of the eclipse with their own camera," he said.

The Urban Astronomy Center is about five miles away from NT at 3250 Tom Cole Road near the Denton Municipal Airport. Because the Hudson Stargate Amphitheatre is under construction, the telescopes will be placed out front. Parking will be available along the highway.

The event will begin around 7:45 p.m., starting with the partial eclipse. This phase is slow and difficult to notice.

"The best viewing will begin at about 9 p.m. and last until 10 p.m.," DiIulio said.