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August
3, 2007: Close your eyes, breathe deeply, let your
mind wander to a distant seashore: It's late in the day, and
the western sun is sinking into the glittering waves. At your
feet, damp sand reflects the twilight, while overhead, the
deep blue sky fades into a cloudy mélange of sunset copper
and gold, so vivid it almost takes your breath away.
 A
breeze touches the back of your neck, and you turn to see
a pale full Moon rising into the night. Hmmm. The Moon could
use a dash more color. You reach out, grab a handful of sunset,
and drape the Moon with phantasmic light. Much better.
Too
bad it's only a dream...
Early
Tuesday morning, August 28th, the dream will come true. There's
going to be a colorful lunar eclipse visible from five continents
including most of North America: map.
Right:
Photos of the March 3, 2007, lunar eclipse. Credit: Antonio
Finazzi and Michele Festa of Lago di Garda, Italy. [Larger
image]
The
event begins 54 minutes past midnight PDT (0754 UT) on August
28th when the Moon enters Earth's shadow. At first, there's
little change. The outskirts of Earth's shadow are as pale
as the Moon itself; an onlooker might not even realize anything
is happening. But as the Moon penetrates deeper, a startling
metamorphosis occurs. Around 2:52 am PDT (0952 UT), the color
of the Moon changes from moondust-gray to sunset-red. This
is totality, and it lasts for 90 minutes.
To
understand why the change occurs, close your eyes and dream
yourself all the way to the Moon. Once again, you're standing
on a seashore—the Sea of Tranquillity. There's no water. You're
surrounded by hundreds of miles of dusty, hardened lava. Overhead
hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the Sun behind
it. The eclipse is underway.
With
the Sun blocked, you might expect utter darkness, but no,
the ground at your feet is aglow. Why? Look back up at Earth.
The rim of the planet seems to be on fire. Around Earth's
circumference you see every sunrise and sunset in the world—all
at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's
shadow, transforming the Moon into a landscape of copper moondust
and golden hills.
Wake
up! This is really going to happen, and some planning is necessary.
Start times of totality are listed in the table below. Set
your alarm an hour or so in advance to gather snacks and dress
warmly. (Even in August, four o'clock in the morning can be
chilly.) Waking up early also allows you to catch some of
the partial eclipse before totality.
The
eclipse will be visible from Australia, Japan, parts of Asia
and most of the Americas, but not from Africa or Europe. Pacific
observers are favored. On the west coast of the United States,
the entire eclipse will unfold high in the post-midnight sky.
On the east coast, totality will be truncated by sunrise.
That's okay; even a little eclipse can be a dream.
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Author: Dr.
Tony Phillips | Editor:
Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
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