Starship Asterisk*

The last line of the text says: "The next total lunar eclipse won't be visible from Earth until February 2008". However, if I am not mistaken, there is a total lunar eclipse in a couple of days, on the morning of 2007 Aug 28.

robjohn wrote:However, if I am not mistaken, there is a total lunar eclipse in a couple of days, on the morning of 2007 Aug 28.

That would explain why the text starts with "This coming Tuesday, our Moon will appear to disappear."

I'm pretty sure the writer meant to say "The next total lunar eclipse AFTER TUESDAY ..."

case wrote:That would explain why the text starts with "This coming Tuesday, our Moon will appear to disappear."

Thanks, I missed that. I shouldn't post when I am tired.

I wondered if the chart linked from the APOD page might be for a solar eclipse. Since the size of the shadow cast by earth's umbra is greater than the size of the moon then it would cover the entire surface area of the moon. How would it be possible for it to obscure varying degrees of lunar visibility when viewed from different points on the surface of the earth as illustrated in the diagram?

twc wrote:I wondered if the chart linked from the APOD page might be for a solar eclipse. Since the size of the shadow cast by earth's umbra is greater than the size of the moon then it would cover the entire surface area of the moon. How would it be possible for it to obscure varying degrees of lunar visibility when viewed from different points on the surface of the earth as illustrated in the diagram?

That's not what the chart shows. It shows what parts of the world will see some, or all, of the event. Some places miss the entire thing because the Moon is below the horizon. Other places only see part, because the Moon rises already eclipsed, or sets before the eclipse finishes.

Those who can see it will be seeing essentially the same thing as everybody else at any given time (except that the Moon is close enough that it actually looks slightly different to people from different locations).

Now I understand. Thank you for the explanation.

I've prepared my smoked glass filter for tonight, but here on the east coast I won't see much.

The view was nice from Vancouver; we also got to see an Iridium flare and the Pleiades through binocs Did you end up seeing the eclipse from the East? And wouldn't a smoked glass filter be used only for this kind of eclipse?