TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

A total lunar eclipse will be visible from Northern Ireland during the night of 8/9th November, weather permitting.

The Moon will enter the outer, penumbral shadow at 10:15pm on the 8th but it will not be too evident that the eclipse is underway until the Moon enters the umbral shadow at about 11:32pm. The total phase of the eclipse commences when the Moon becomes completely immersed in the umbral shadow at 1:06am on the 9th. Totality will last for only about 25 minutes, after which the moon will exit the umbra at about 3:04am.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon completely enters the Earth's dark shadow, known as the umbra. However, the moon does not usually disappear from view since the Earth's atmosphere acts in some ways like a lens and scatters some of the Sun's light so that it illuminates the lunar surface. The Moon often turns a deep shade of red, but the actual colour depends on the amount of cloud, dust and pollution in our atmosphere at the time.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John McFarland at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG. Tel.: 028-3752-2928; FAX: 028-3752-7174; jmfarm.ac.uk; Website: here.

Last Revised: 2003 November 5th WWW contact: webmaster@arm.ac.uk

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