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Dry air should clear sky for eclipse

Posted on: Saturday, 8 November 2003, 06:00 CST

STORM TEAM 4

Dry air should clear sky for eclipse

By JOHN MALAN Meteorlogist

Saturday, November 8, 2003

The chilly air will persist across Wisconsin this weekend, with highs in the 30s and 40s and lows in the teens and 20s. There should be plenty of sunshine, especially today with the cold, dry air clearing out the moisture and pollutants. Warmer air is scheduled back into Wisconsin during the early part of next week.

The dry air should allow the atmosphere to stay clear for tonight's total lunar eclipse, which occurs from about 7 to 7:30 p.m. The Earth's shadow actually appears around 5:30 and continues until 9:30, so get out and enjoy the celestial event if you can this evening. Astronomy Magazine is holding a free outdoor total lunar eclipse party for anyone interested between 5 and 10 tonight at the southeast end of Veterans Park by the lakefront.

A lunar eclipse occurs only during a full moon, such as tonight's Full Beaver Moon, when the moon is on one side of the Earth, the sun is on the opposite side, and all three bodies are aligned in the same plane. In this alignment, the Earth blocks the sun's rays to cast a shadow on the moon. In a total lunar eclipse such as tonight's, the moon seems to disappear from the sky when the whole moon passes through the umbra, or total shadow, created by the Earth. Tonight's total eclipse will occur between 7:06 and 7:31 p.m., weather permitting.

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