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November 07, 2003
Prime Time Saturday Night
There are many things to do on a Saturday evening. Television, movies, dining, or web browsing, but all of those can take a back seat to a total lunar eclipse! If you live in North or South America, Europe, or Africa get out and enjoy the eclipse if your weather cooperates.
Saturday night will be a night without a moon, for about 24 minutes. I will be out watching this eclipse since it is supposed to be clear and cool this Saturday evening.
Detailed information about the eclipse can be found at these sites:
CNN Lunar Eclipse Story
NASA Lunar Eclipse Site
Wikipedia Lunar Eclipse
The moon has been observed in the evening for many, many years, and can be found in literature stretching back to ancient times. Imagine living thousands of years ago with no electricity, no computer, and no street lights. Do you think you might have noticed the moon a bit more often?
Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides.
-- Alcaeus (fl. 611-580 BC)
To help students understand tides on Earth, or phases of the moon we have two new Gizmos that were recently added. An eclipse Gizmo is currently under development. I'm sure it will be ready for the next lunar eclipse since that isn't until May 4, 2004 :)
Posted by Raman at 08:07 AM in Science (Real World) | Permalink
Comments
The eclipse was ideal. Not a cloud in the sky here in Charlottesville, VA. I hope you had your telescope out for this one Edward.
I really wonder what early humans would have thought about the moon becoming a red ghost-like shadow of its normal self. Since I know exactly why the eclipse is happening I just can't imagine living when people thought the world was flat. Could you ever explain an eclipse?
Of course, in 200 years people won't understand how "we" lived with such primitive technology :) No air conditioning a hundred years ago. Yikes.
Posted by: Rp | Nov 8, 2003 8:32:33 PM
