News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Stargazers will have the chance to view the Beaver Moon Lunar Eclipse during the dark hours of this Friday morning.
Tennessee Tech Physics and Astronomy Chair Dr. Steve Robinson said that the eclipse will begin around 1:00 a.m., which most won’t be able to notice. He said that gradually, the moon will pass into the earth’s shadow around 2:30 a.m.
“And there’ll only be a tiny sliver that’s got the sunlight shining on it,” Robinson said. “So what people will see is the moon gradually being sort of eaten away over that time of about an hour. And then after that, it will reverse itself, and gradually more and more of the moon will appear again.”
Robinson said that a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun is shining on one side of the earth and the moon passes into its shadow. He said that as the moon moves further into the shadow of the earth, the part that’s in the shadow will turn an orangey-red color. He said that happens because of the atmosphere on the earth.
“The sunlight shines on the earth but some of it shines through the earth’s atmosphere and is deflected onto the moon,” Robinson said. “And the red parts of the sunlight are deflected more and they hit the moon which is behind the earth and turns it into a sort of orange color.”
Robinson said that the length of the eclipse has to do with the place where the earth is in its orbit around the sun and how quickly the earth is moving.
“When they say it’s the longest in a century, it’s only a few minutes here,” Robinson said. “It’s nothing dramatic. These eclipses last well over an hour, sometimes up to an hour and a half. So a few minutes either way is not going to make much difference to what people will see, it just happens to be a little bit longer this time.”
Robinson said that the best viewing time for the eclipse will be during that hour window and at a place far away from bright street lights. He said that there’s no need to go out into the middle of the country to see it because the moon is so bright as it is.
