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Astrophotography

Lunar Eclipse October 27, 2004

Photographs Taken at the Followng Times (Click for Larger Image)

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(These digital photographs were taken with a Canon A70, at 3x optical zoom, through a 26 mm eyepiece attached to our TeleVue Pronto Telescope.)


Lunar eclipses occur whenever the Earth passes between the sun and the moon. If Earth's shadow obscures completely the moon, we talk of a "total lunar eclipse". If Earth's shadow obscures only part of moon's disk, the eclipse is called partial.

This phenomenon can be seen about twice a year on the Earth. However, total lunar eclipses are generally observed from different regions of our planet. Thus it is likely you will have to wait a few years to see the next total lunar eclipse, unless you want to travel.

In 2004 there were two total lunar eclipses. The first one occurred on May 4th, 2004. It was visible from the eastern hemisphere. Part of the event was also observed from eastern Europe. The second lunar eclipse of 2004 was on Oct. 28th. It was visible from all of North and South America, and some portions from most of Europe and Africa. The next two total lunar eclipses visible from Oxford will happen on March 3rd and August 28th, 2007. The first one will be difficult to observe because the totality phase will end just five minutes after moonrise. The second one will be more favorable. However, be prepared to stay up very late at night: The middle of totality will happen at 5:37am.

During total lunar eclipses Earth's shadow obscures the moon. However, the moon remains visible because of the sunlight filtering through the edge of our atmosphere. The result is that the moon turns dark red. The color of the moon during the total phase depends on the amount of dust in Earth's atmosphere, just like the color of sunset. Storms, volcanic eruptions, and seasonal changes in Earth's atmosphere fill the air with particles that may change the color of the moon from dark brick red to bright copper.