14 DAY TRIAL // Eager beavers, hurry up to catch the last total lunar eclipse for 2007. It will be witnessed on Tuesday Aug. 28 and will be the second for this year after the one on March, 3.
The eclipse will start at 8:51 a.m. UT (Universal Time), and the total eclipse will last from 9:52 a.m. UT to 11:22 a.m. UT. By 12:23 p.m. UT, the eclipse will be gone.
A moon eclipse takes place when the moon is aligned with the earth and the sun, with the moon located through the earth's shadow, divided into umbra and penumbra zones. "Red is the strongest of all the colors of the sun when its light was reflected into the atmosphere during an eclipse," Taufik Hidayat, head of the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, West Java, told The Jakarta Post.
"The impressive part of a lunar eclipse was the rich coppery red color of the moon during its time in shadow. This was caused by the dusty earth's atmosphere scattering red light on to the lunar surface," said Carter Observatory senior astronomer Brian Carter.
The eclipse will be visible across America, Australia, New Zealand and East Asia, but not from Africa, Europe and West Asia. In New Zealand, it will be the only moon eclipse visible in more than 3 years. "People will not need to get out their telescopes or go to an observatory. They can watch the eclipse with the naked eye from their rooftops. Hopefully, the weather will be very clear so the phenomenon can be easily viewed." said Taufik.
"The eclipse could be captured using an ordinary camera. Those who want to record the process should prepare their camera before the moon rises so that they can get the full sequence," he said.
The Bosscha Observatory has forecast the next total moon eclipse for Feb. 21, 2008, with a partial solar eclipse occurring before, on Feb. 7.