Red Moon at Night is Sky-Watchers' Delight

November 6, 2003
By Jim Erickson, Rocky Mountain News

The Earth's shadow will blot out the full moon for 25 minutes on Saturday evening in a total lunar eclipse that will be visible, weather permitting, throughout Colorado and much of North America.

The eclipse will be under way when the moon rises around 5 p.m. MST. Earth's shadow will creep across the moon's disk, completely covering it at 6:06 p.m.

The total lunar eclipse will end at 6:31 p.m., when the moon starts to emerge from the darkest portion of the shadow. The full moon will shed the shadow completely at 8:04 p.m., according to Sky & Telescope magazine.

"This is all going to take place just as the moon is rising. And the cool thing about a total lunar eclipse is that the moon looks orange or red," said Doug Duncan, director of the University of Colorado's Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory.

Even at the height of a total lunar eclipse, the moon does not vanish from sight. Earth's atmosphere acts like a lens, bending some sunlight onto the darkened moon.

Most of the deflected light is red, casting the lunar surface in eerie hues of murky brown, dusky red-

gray or fiery orange.

Total lunar eclipses can last over an hour, so Saturday's 25-minute event is considered "a bit short," Duncan said. It is the second total lunar eclipse visible from Colorado this year; the first was in May.

CU's Sommers-Bausch Observatory will be open to the public from 5 to 7:30 p.m. for eclipse viewing Saturday. CU's Fiske Planetarium will present a live talk about eclipses at 7:30 p.m.

Admission to the observatory for the eclipse-viewing event is free. The Fiske show costs $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3 for children and seniors.

Weather permitting, free public viewing at the University of Denver's Chamberlin Observatory, 2930 E. Warren Ave., will start at 5 p.m.

But telescopes and binoculars aren't needed to view a lunar eclipse; the naked eye works fine. And no eye protection is necessary when viewing lunar eclipses.

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