Total Lunar Eclipse in North America Tonight

beeza · 2010-12-21T03:14:38-01:00

So in about three hours from now, in the western hemisphere (North and South America), the moon will be completely blocked off from the sun's rays by the Earth, resulting in a total lunar eclipse. You get to see the moon go red. It'll start at 1:40 EST, which is GMT-5 (or three hours from the time of this post, which is like 730am fakku time?) and the moon will be completely blocked off at around 2:40am EST and last for just over an hour. The moon should turn a shade of red for reasons I'm not completely understanding of. Regardless, if you're a late night FAKKU user in the western hemisphere, why not try heading outside around this time. It's certainly a rare sight. And no, this isn't the cooler of the two eclipses. A solar eclipse is the one that happens during the day where the sun is blocked off by the moon (it went dark during the day fast). I have to stay up this late to study for a final, so I'll probably take a break and go outside to see it. Good stuff. I need to get a digital camera for Christmas or something. How am I not able to take a picture of this...

Pages 1 23

Brittany Director of Production

14 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhZWIgUUPZ8

There we go.

zetsubo666

14 years ago

It was partly clouding where I am, but still managed to see it. Totality was around 12:40 this morning.

The Phenomenal One

14 years ago

Ziggy wrote...

The music was a nice touch, but...
-sigh-
So unfair. I feel like crying now because by the time the next one appears, I'll have been dead for 29-39 years.

Brittany Director of Production

14 years ago

I didn't make the video, but I would have preferred this song with it:

Because I'm lame like that. :)

Gism88

14 years ago

Ziggy wrote...

I didn't make the video, but I would have preferred this song with it:

Because I'm lame like that. :)

What are you talking about: THAT SONG IS AWESOME!

beeza

14 years ago

Oh my god...That video was AMAZING.

It just suddenly turned red. I didn't expect that. I MISSED THIS. GAH.

So upset...the next total one I can see without having to fly anywhere is April 14, 2014.

I'm wondering why people are saying a lunar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Yeah, the eclipse happening on the winter solstice only happens once in hundreds to thousands of years, but lunar eclipses themselves happen regularly. It's just somewhat rare to have a total eclipse in the part of the world you're at.

MadeOfIce

14 years ago

the cool thing about a lunar eclipse is that you can see it from about any part of the world;) which is different form a solar eclipse which can only bee seen from a small part of the world at each time

mantisprime1250

14 years ago

raining non stop since yesterday T.T
awesome video there :D
thanx Ziggy

Ryuushi

14 years ago

MadeOfIce wrote...

Brief explanation:
A Solar eclipse is when the moon passes in front of the sun, casting a shadow onto the earth. Since no sunlight is reaching the shadow, it appears to be like night time within it. The moon is much smaller than the earth however, and thus it's shadow will only cover part of the earth rather than all of it. Thats why only a small part of the world will be able to witness any solar eclipse.

Lunar eclipses on the other hand happen when the earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. The earth is large enough to cast a shadow that can block out the entire moon. That is why it can be seen from the entire half of the earth facing the moon. The red hue is caused when the moon doesn't lie completely in the earth's shadow allowing a minuscule amount of sunlight to hit the moon, illuminating it a rusty red color.

scalhoun

14 years ago