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Moon to Take on Creepy Tint at Height of Evening Eclipse ; The Moon Will Enter the Darkest Part of the Earth's Shadow at 9:14 and Be Totally Immersed By 10:23.

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 October 2004, 15:00 CDT

If the Red Sox are not your thing, you can tune into the late October sky tonight and watch the moon turn from ghostly white to pumpkin orange or blood red.

The creepy color change will be caused by a total lunar eclipse, the last really good one that will be visible in North America until Feb. 21, 2008.

The entire eastern two-thirds of the country will be able to see the whole eclipse. No crawling out of bed at some ungodly hour, either. The moon will enter the umbra, the darkest part of the Earth's shadow, at 9:14 p.m. Totality will begin at 10:23 p.m. and last 81 minutes.

And it looks as if the weather is going to cooperate. A high pressure system from Canada will settle into the region today, bringing dry, clear air that is perfect for skywatching.

"It should be crystal clear," said Bob Marine, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Gray. "There will be a big high sitting on us. It looks good. Everyone should be able to get a good shot at it."

Lest you think the moon's red hue is some kind of celestial tribute to the teams battling it out in the World Series, the color change occurs because of the way the Earth's atmosphere scatters light into the planet's shadow.

"If you were on the moon looking back at the Earth, what you would see is a bright ring around the Earth, which would be the light coming through the atmosphere," explained Jerry LaSala, an associate professor of physics at USM and director of Southworth Planetarium.

"And it looks red for exactly the same reason that sunsets look red, which is that layers of atmosphere scatter out all the other colors and leave the red behind," he said. "Indeed, it's the same reason the sky is blue."

The exact color depends a lot on how much dust and other particulate matter is in the atmosphere.

"The dirtier the atmosphere is, the darker the moon will look because less light will get through," LaSala said. "So if, for instance, there are a lot of storms along the sunset and sunrise edges of the Earth, the moon will look darker."

LaSala wonders if the recent volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens in Washington will have an effect on the color of the moon during the eclipse.

Binoculars and telescopes are nice, but won't be necessary to watch the lunar eclipse. With the moon darkened, however, this will be a good time to get a better view of fall and winter constellations. Pegasus will lie west of the moon, according to NASA's Web site, while Taurus and Orion will be visible to the east.

All of these scientific details are interesting, but here's what Red Sox fans really want to know: Will the celestial show be worth missing part of the World Series?

"Fortunately, it will last long enough that they can go (outside) during the commercials," LaSala said. "That's the nice thing about a lunar eclipse. You know, a solar eclipse, the interesting part is only a couple of minutes long. But a lunar eclipse lasts for a couple of hours, so they can work around the Red Sox."

Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791 - 6324 or at:

mgoad@pressherald.com

Source: Portland Press Herald

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