Monday, August 27, 2007

Lunar Eclipse Early Tomorrow Morning

If you wake up early tomorrow (or stay up late tonight), you might get to see a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse begins just before 4 am, and totality will begin just before 5 am. Unfortunately, the moon will be getting pretty low by the time totality starts - just 15 degrees above the horizon - so it could well be blocked by trees and buildings.

Here is the data for Rock Island from the U.S. Naval Observatory

                                                                                     Moon's
                                                                            Azimuth Altitude
                                                      h     m                     o        o   
Moon enters penumbra      02:52.2      213.3      30.8
Moon enters umbra             03:50.9        227.3      24.1
Moon enters totality           04:52.0        239.7      15.4
Middle of eclipse                 05:37.3        248.0      8.2
Moon leaves totality           06:22.7        255.6      0.9
Moonset                               06:30        256.8      ----

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