FYI:
For those who dont know, tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse, the first for 3 years.
The Moon will appear a shade of brown, coppery-red or orange, an effect that will be visible from all continents.
During the period of totality, from 10.24pm to 11.58pm, the Moon will only be illuminated by light filtered through the Earth's atmosphere.
The precise appearance depends on the amount of dust in the atmosphere: following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1992, which released large amounts of volcanic ash, the eclipsed Moon was nearly invisible.
As the Earth has not had a major eruption for some years "we can expect an impressive sight", said Ian Morison of the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory.
"If there were astronauts on the Moon looking at Earth during a total lunar eclipse they would see a black disc surrounded by a bright red ring. It is the light from this ring that we see reflected by the Moon's surface."
Such an eclipse described in the Bible as the Moon "turned to blood" helped scientists to fix the date of the Crucifixion as Friday, April 3, AD 33.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/01/neclipse01.xml
Also, saturn is visible, high in the sky and close to the moon, from about the one o-clock position. If the night sky is clear, the rings should be visible with decent binoculars.
Here's a screen shot from Cartes du Ciel, observing from 53N 2W at 22:30, showing the direction of the moon and the position of Saturn relative to it.
Lets hope the skies are clear tonight.
For those who dont know, tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse, the first for 3 years.
The Moon will appear a shade of brown, coppery-red or orange, an effect that will be visible from all continents.
During the period of totality, from 10.24pm to 11.58pm, the Moon will only be illuminated by light filtered through the Earth's atmosphere.
The precise appearance depends on the amount of dust in the atmosphere: following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1992, which released large amounts of volcanic ash, the eclipsed Moon was nearly invisible.
As the Earth has not had a major eruption for some years "we can expect an impressive sight", said Ian Morison of the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory.
"If there were astronauts on the Moon looking at Earth during a total lunar eclipse they would see a black disc surrounded by a bright red ring. It is the light from this ring that we see reflected by the Moon's surface."
Such an eclipse described in the Bible as the Moon "turned to blood" helped scientists to fix the date of the Crucifixion as Friday, April 3, AD 33.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/01/neclipse01.xml
Also, saturn is visible, high in the sky and close to the moon, from about the one o-clock position. If the night sky is clear, the rings should be visible with decent binoculars.
Here's a screen shot from Cartes du Ciel, observing from 53N 2W at 22:30, showing the direction of the moon and the position of Saturn relative to it.
Lets hope the skies are clear tonight.
