Tuesday, August 28, 2007

RARER: The moon is set to turn blood red tonight

The moon is set to turn blood red tonight
The moon eclipse will be visible in Melbourne from 6.52pm tonight, with the total eclipse from 7.52pm to 9.22pm.

In the first such occurrence since 2000, the Earth will block the sun's light shining on the moon, allowing only scattered sunlight to illuminate the planet's biggest satellite.

Stargazers can expect the moon to shift between shades of red, orange and yellow, as the atmosphere filters out most of the blue light.

The colours will depend on the extent of volcanic gas and dust in the atmosphere filtering the light.
Senior weather forecaster James Taylor said today the best views of the astronomical event would be in Melbourne's northern and north-western suburbs.

"There is some moisture moving in so there is likely to be some low level cloud out tonight, but there's no need to throw in the towel, because there is reasonable chance that there will be breaks in the cover," Mr Taylor said.

The lunar eclipse is visible at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are perfectly alignedAstrologers believe the full moon eclipse represent the time of endings, often in which we are forced to release attachments or relationships that are diverting us from our destiny.

The eclipse will be visible across the Pacific rim from Australia's east coast to the west coast of the American continent.

If you miss this one, the next total eclipse will not occur until 2011....................(Matthew Schulz and Dina Rosendorf - www.news.com.au)
photo by reuters