Look Skyward: Lunar Eclipse

June, 2011 eclipse. Image Source: CNN.

A total Full Moon lunar eclipse at dawn and early morning will turn the Moon dark red. The Moon will also be larger than usual, and the effects of the Earth passing between the Sun and the Moon will be all the more dramatic. The event will be visible early in the morning of December 10 (North American time). Space.com: "The eclipse will start at around 7:45 a.m. EST (4:45 a.m. PST, 12:45 GMT), when the shadow of the moon inches across the lunar disk. The celestial show will be visible from parts of North America, with those in the western portions of Canada and the United States particularly well placed for the event. People in Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia should also be able to catch sight of the reddened moon. 'For people in the western United States, the eclipse is deepest just before local dawn," NASA scientists said in a statement. "Face west to see the red moon sinking into the horizon as the sun rises behind your back. It's a rare way to begin your day.'" CNN states the first signs of the eclipse will be visible earlier, at 6:33 EST: "The eclipse will last from 6:33 a.m. Eastern (3:33 a.m. Pacific) till 12:30 p.m. Eastern (9:33 a.m. Pacific)"; but the main part of the eclipse will last 51 minutes. The LA Times reports that you can also watch the eclipse live on your computer: "Slooh, the online Space Camera, plans to broadcast a free, real-time feed of the eclipse from telescopes in Australia, Asia and Hawaii. You can access the feed via Slooh's homepage." This will be the last total lunar eclipse until 2014.

Fox News comments that this will be an opportunity to see the impossible - the Sun and the eclipsed Moon in the sky at the same time.  This should not be possible, because when a total lunar eclipse takes place, the Sun and Moon are on a 180 degree line, with the Earth between them. We will see both in the sky because of atmospheric refraction called selenelion.

Not surprisingly, astrologers think this Full Moon lunar eclipse, with the eclipsed, out-of-sight Moon refracted back up into our line of vision, is significant. The eclipse occurs in the constellation of Gemini. For them, it symbolizes a heightening of emotions this weekend, hidden secrets revealed, the penny will finally drop - they think it is also a time of dreams and visions.