Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Wondering About Eclipses.

Yes, I know I talked about the sun yesterday, but today I am going to talk about both the sun and the moon. . . and the Earth.  Why?  Because in this month of October, all of them will be involved in eclipses; the Earth, the moon, and the sun.  The first one will be the eclipse of the moon by the Earth.  That will be tomorrow morning at 03:16 when the moon Earth's shadow starts to creep across it.  (04:16 EDT, 03:16 here in East Texas, and 01:16 for you out on the pacific coast)  It will take 70 minutes to reach totality.  At that time it will be a shade of red.  The shade of red color depends on the Earth's atmosphere at the time.

The only reason we can see the moon at total eclipse is because our atmosphere bends light, especially red light, from the sun far enough to illuminate the moon which gives it that ruddy look at totality.  Fifteen days later, the sun, moon, and Earth line up again, only this time the moon will be between the sun and the Earth, so a solar eclipse will occur.  I would think it would be unusual to have both types of eclipses in the same month.

You all should take a look at the moon during its eclipse, but please don't look directly at the sun, even when eclipsed.  Use a mirror and project it onto a piece of paper.  BTW, you can also see the solar eclipse in the shadow of every leaf.  Really neat to see that!  Now, you all have a great day, you hear? 

12 comments:

  1. Would like to see the Blood Moon, but,, at 5:55AM, probably won't.

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    1. I sleep better in the morning than I do at night. Why is that? Therefore, I too will not see it. Hey, at my age, I can sleep in if I want too, right?

      Nobody commented on my blog yesterday. I guess I will have to come up with some new, exciting subjects for my future blogs.

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  2. Ok, I'm ready for the lunar eclipse. I'll have to set my inner alarm clock to wake up for it.

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    1. Out there on the west coast, it will be around 01:00 when it begins and lasts over an hour.

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  3. With my luck I'll get up to watch... and the sky will be overcast.... oh well.. we'll see.

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    1. So, you got that kind of luck, too. Get up, look out, and if there are clouds, you should hurry up and get back in bed before you get too awake.

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  4. I am so turned around by the time zones, and I'm glad you told me I will see the eclipse at 1 am. I've been waking up every couple hours throughout the night and look out my window - I thought I had figured out what I'm seeing early in the morning and wrote it down, but can't find where I put it!

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    1. I am the one who posted about it and guess what? I slept through the best part. Dang!!

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  5. I am looking forward to your pictures, as I am pretty sure I will be asleep:)

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  6. I saw it, Dizzy. I get up at 4:15 anyway, and it was doing well by then, dusty red and kinda cool. Later, more red and rather creepy. Then totally gone, just a sliver, and recovering back to dusty red. Fun to watch the progression.
    But, I have talked to 3 people this morning who, including me, have have something rather unsettling or creepy happen to them already today. One saw his dead mother-in-law follow his wife into the bathroom, I had the gas nozzle, while securely in the gas tank,, start pouring gas onto the ground, then shut itself off way before it was full. Someone else won't tell me what, as she says it was too wierd to talk about.
    Anyone else out there have some odd experiences today?

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