June 26, Saturday, was the first lunar eclipse of 2010. Before viewing the first lunar eclipse of 2010, millions of tweens will be in movie theaters taking in the “Eclipse” premiere, the latest installment of “The Twilight Saga,” which has been released on the same date. Saturday’s lunar eclipse will be a partial eclipse and will also visible from much of the Americas, the Pacific and eastern Asia.
This exciting ‘moon illusion’
The first lunar eclipse of 2010 is going to appear magnified in the U.S. by an effect known as the “moon illusion.” The BBC reports that the eclipse is going to appear larger because it occurs while the Moon is so close to the horizon. The partial lunar eclipse are not going to reach totality because the moon, sun and Earth will not be aligned exactly. 54 percent of the Moon’s diameter will be covered at 4:38 a.m. Pacific time. The eclipse will last almost three hours.
The rising moon might just trick your brain
If they’re able to stay up until dawn after the excitement of the Twilight Eclipse premiere, all of these tweens will think Saturday’s partial lunar eclipse will look way large because the human mind perceives the size of the low-hanging Moon in reference to trees, buildings and other foreground objects. Once the moon rises into the sky, it ended up looking much smaller without the earthbound objects for the brain to compare it to. In reality, a low Moon is the exact same distance away from us as any other moon and doesn’t change in size.
Dawn is in Americas while Twilight is in Asia
During the partial lunar eclipse, NASA reports that the moon illusion will be particularly strong in western and central parts of the U.S. and Canada where the moon will be setting as the eclipse reaches maximum. According to NASA, you should look low and to the west right before dawn. On the other side of the world, people in India, Japan, and parts of East Asia will see the moon illusion sometimes on Saturday evening as the Moon is rising.
For Twilight saga there is a bloody moon
During the lunar eclipse Saturday, the moon looked the color of blood. But tweens having stayed up all night talking about the Twilight “Eclipse” premiere weren’t alarmed. The reddish hue appears because sunlight that is reflecting off the moon passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, where it is then scattered. Once the light passes through the atmosphere, the resulting light is dominated by longer wavelengths the human eye perceives as red. This is the same effect that causes sunsets and sunrises to turn the sky a reddish color.
Cranking up moon telescopes
The first lunar eclipse of 2010 was especially interesting viewed through a telescope. Universe Today suggests trying to crank up the magnification on your moon telescope to watch particular craters as the shadow sweeps over them. A cloud traveling across the landscape might be what it reminds you of. If you have an eyepiece camera on your telescope, try taking some video footage and share it on YouTube. Universe Today provides a chart that shows which craters to observe and when to focus on them.
More information on this topic
BBC
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10414201.stm
NASA
science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/24jun_lunareclipse/
Universe Today
universetoday.com/2010/06/24/partial-lunar-eclipse-visible-june-26-2010/
