Total Lunar Eclipse
On the night of December 20th in Los Angeles and later after midnight on the East coast, there will be a lunar eclipse ... a total lunar eclipse.
The sequence of events leading to the total ecipse is shown above. The moon enters the Earth's shadow at upper left and you can see the darkness creep across its surface. Remember that the Earth's shadow is much bigger than the Moon and that out at the edge the shadow is not sharp because the Sun's disk is large too ... not a point source of light. At lower right is the Moon in the deepest part of the shadow.
You might expect that when the Moon is fully in the shadow it would be all black ... and it would be if the Earth did not have a thick atmosphere. However, looking back at the earth, someone on the Moon would see all the sunsets around the rim of the planet at the same time. That red glow lights the Moon while it is in the deepest shadow and gives it a spectacular red glow.
This December's total eclipse (when it is red) will happen between 11:40 PM and 12:53 AM in California. In the East it will happen at exactly the same instant, but our clocks will read 2:40 AM to 3:58 AM. And it will probably be ripping cold.
The above NASA graphic shows where the USA will be as the Earth turns during the eclipse. It is a view from the Moon. The yellow disk is the Sun, passing behind the Earth. The "sunset" phenomenon is not shown.
Bear, for Los Angeles, the event starts at about 9:00 on December 20th and reaches its peak about midnight, when the Sun is directly behind the planet. In the center image, you can see that LA is right in the middle of the picture at that point.
For the rest of us on the East coast and further "down East" in Maine, the eclipse is at its maximum at about 3:00 AM on the 21st. We will be further around the world when the Sun is right behind the Earth and we will not be directly under the eclipsed Moon. By the time it is over, the Moon will be almost at the horizon for us in Maine (see right hand image above).
Kristin, I am going to stay up to see it ... or ... to see if I can see it. You have to decide if you want me to wake Piper up if the sky is clear. Rory can probably wait for the next one
I hope we can all see it and share what we saw.
Love Ya!
Paw
