Category: space.com

About 70 percent of the country will be able to get a good view of the total lunar eclipse tonight (Sept. 27). Unfortunately for many who live east of the Mississippi River, the odds of seeing the moon as it passes completely into the Earth’s shadow are rather poor, according to current weather projections.

Read on below to get our supermoon lunar eclipse weather forecast for skywatchers across the United States. If clouds or bad weather ruins your view, don’t fret. You can always watch the lunar eclipse online in a webcast by the Slooh Community Observatory.

You can also see the lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. The webcast will begin at 8 p.m. ET (midnight GMT). [Tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse: When and How to See It]

Unsettled for much of Eastern U.S.

At eclipse time, a low pressure system will be located just to the east of the Georgia coast. The storm is forecast to produce scattered showers and possibly a few thunderstorms across parts of the Carolinas, and spotty light rain for Virginia and West Virginia, Maryland, western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. 

A second low pressure system over the western Gulf of Mexico is forecast to bring a swath of heavier showers and thunderstorms to parts of southeast Texas, as well as portions of the Deep South, Piedmont and Florida. Accompanying this precipitation will be widespread cloud cover extending from the Gulf Coast and Florida, north to the central and eastern Great Lakes. [Visibility Maps for the Lunar Eclipse (Gallery)]

Another area of unsettled and wet weather will be over the “Arrowhead” Region of northeast Minnesota, generated by an approaching cold front.

This map of the U.S. shows the forecast for cloud cover across North America on Sept. 27, 2015 during the supermoon total lunar eclipse.
Credit: U.S. National Weather Service

Alaska and Hawaii

And I haven’t forgotten you folks in Alaska and Hawaii. Unfortunately, Alaska will be almost completely clouded over along with areas of rain and showers. Hawaii will not fare much better for those hoping to catch the closing stages of the eclipse. Strong trade winds will keep most showers focused over windward slopes, with showers reaching leeward sides of the smaller islands over the next couple of days. Tropical storm Niala is forecast to pass south of the Big Island Sunday and Monday, and bring heavy rain to the Big Island and surf to east facing shores.

Central and West should get a good look; New England too

In contrast, most of the central and western United States, as well as New England and eastern New York State is expected to get a fine view of tonight’s total lunar eclipse. A frontal boundary situated over the central Plains and Rocky Mountains could generate some partial cloud cover but not enough to seriously hinder viewing of the eclipse. The Southwest Desert, Pacific Northwest and Californiawill be dry and tranquil … and perfect for viewing the moon show.

This map shows the areas of the world from which viewers can see the total lunar eclipse. The Americas will have a particularly good view, especially the eastern parts.
Credit: Sky & Telescope

Over New England and much of adjacent eastern New York State, the weather will be dominated by a large fair-weather ridge of high pressure centered near Nova Scotia and stretching back to the west into the Northeast U.S. Few or no clouds should be the rule for northern and central New England providing near perfect weather for the lunar eclipse. Over southern New England and eastern New York, some high-to-mid level cloudiness might occasionally drift on by. But these clouds for the most part are not opaque, so the moon might still be visible even when clouds are passing in front of it.

In short, if you live in the Northeast U.S., the farther north and east you go, the better your viewing chances; farther to the west and south, thicker clouds are increasingly more likely to eclipse the eclipse.  

A National Weather Service Forecast for You

For the very latest forecast for your local area, here is a link that lists all of the National Weather Service Forecast Offices across the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii and the Pacific Region.  Just click on the office that serves your area to get not only the latest weather outlook, but access to local radar and satellite imagery as well:  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/organization.php.

Editor’s note: If you snap a great photo of the total lunar eclipse tonight want to share it for a possible story or gallery, send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com. 

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer’s Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. 

As the full moon shines in the night sky tonight (Sept. 27), it will pass through Earth’s shadow in a total lunar eclipse.

You can watch the lunar eclipse in a webcast by the Slooh Community Observatory. You can also see the total lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

As you watch and enjoy the total eclipse of the Harvest Full Moon, read on below to see 10 things about this shady little drama that might surprise you. [Tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse: When and How to See It] 

1) How often do lunar eclipses happen?

During the 21st century, there are 85 total lunar eclipses; a specific geographical location on the surface of the Earth will be able to see an average 40 to 45 total lunar eclipses or about one about every 2.3 years. Contrast this to a total eclipse of the sun, which, as seen from a specific geographic location occurs on an average of once every 375 years.

The reason for the large disparity is simple. In order to see a total eclipse of the sun, you must be fortuitously positioned along the path of the moon’s dark shadow (the umbra) which might extend for many thousands of miles, but cannot be any wider than 167 miles in diameter. In contrast, the region of visibility for a total lunar eclipse extends to more than half of the Earth allowing billions to partake in the lunar show. [Visibility Maps for the Lunar Eclipse (Gallery)]

2) Thermal shock wave!

When the Earth’s shadow sweeps across the lunar landscape, the temperature drops radically. In fact, the resulting “thermal shock” may cause lunar rocks to crumble and gas to escape from within the moon.  Normally, as the sun slowly sets on the moon, the drop in temperature is gradual. But if sunlight is shut off when the sun is high in the lunar sky, the drop is much more rapid – over a span of just 10 to 30 minutes. 

During a total lunar eclipse in 1971, temperatures were monitored at two Apollo landing sites. At the Apollo 12 site on the Ocean of Storms, the temperature dropped from 168.3 degrees Fahrenheit (75.7 degrees Celsius) to minus 153 degrees F (minus 1021 C), a 321.3-degree change. At the Apollo 14 Fra Mauro site, the temperature dropped from 154.1 degrees F to minus 153 degrees F (67.8 degrees C to minus 102 degrees C), a change of 307.1 degrees.

3) “Hot spots” during totality

Interestingly, infrared images of the eclipsed moon have revealed literally hundreds of “hot spots” as well as large areas on the lunar surface that were warmer than their surroundings. Scans of some prominent craters, such as Tycho, seem to suggest a heat-release pattern caused principally by stored solar heat rather than heat from the moon’s interior, while other craters, like Gassendi seem to show the sort of thermal behavior that one would expect of an internal heat source. Although this phenomenon has been studied for over 50 years, and several theories have been put forth to explain it nobody has determined a definitive solution as to why such hot spots” exist when the moon is completely immersed in the Earth’s dark shadow. 

4) The longest eclipse

The longest duration of totality for a lunar eclipse is 106 minutes. This can happen when the moon crosses through the middle of the Earth’s shadow when the moon is at or very near to apogee (farthest point in its orbit from Earth). When the moon is near apogee, it is moving slower and needs a longer time to cross the Earth’s shadow.

In addition, the longest total eclipses tend to occur during the Northern Hemisphere summer, when the Earth is near aphelion (farthest point in its orbit from the sun). When the Earth is in the aphelion part of its orbit, its shadow is a little larger than when the sun is closer to us, resulting in longer lunar eclipses. The total lunar eclipse of July 16, 2000, which was visible in the Pacific Ocean, eastern Asia and Australia was one of the longest on record, lasting 106 minutes and 25 seconds. On Aug. 13, 1859, totality lasted 3 seconds longer. It won’t be until Aug. 19, 4753 will there be a longer total eclipse, with a duration of 106 minutes and 35 seconds, according to “Mathematical Astronomy Morsels II” by Jean Meeus published by Willmann-Bell, Inc. in 2002.  

5) Can total lunar eclipses foretell the end of time?

In recent years, a new term for a total lunar eclipse has been bandied about in the mainstream media: “blood moon.” 

The term came from a book that was written by a pastor who claimed that beginning in April 2014, a series of four consecutive lunar eclipses – coinciding with Jewish holidays– with six full moons in between, and no intervening partial lunar eclipses, is an omen of the end times. The eclipse series is called a lunar tetradand is very variable with time. The Belgian astronomer, Jean Meeus points out that no tetrads at all occurred at the time when Louis XIV was king of France, yet from 1909 to 2156 there are 16 tetrads. And during a 2,000 year interval, 25 of these began in between March 16 to May 15, meaning that there have been other periods in history where tetrads coincided with the Jewish holidays, yet nothing out of the ordinary happened! 

So the “Blood Moon Prophecy” is nothing more than a fallacy and should be filed away with the nonsensical prediction that”Rapture” and Judgement Day was to take place on May 21, 2011.

6) A moon of a different color

But should we label every total eclipse of the moon as a “blood moon?” Not necessarily!  How the moon will actually appear during totality is not known. The reason the moon can be seen at all is that sunlight is scattered and refracted around the edge of the Earth by our atmosphere. 

The color and brightness of the totally eclipsed moon depends on global weather conditions and the amount of dust suspended in the air. A clear atmosphere on Earth means a bright lunar eclipse.  But if a major volcanic eruption has injected particles into the stratosphere in the previous couple of years, the eclipse is very dark.

Some eclipses are such a dark grey-black that the moon nearly vanishes from view (can we call this a “charcoal moon?”); or glows dimly with a brownish color (“chocolate moon?”).  At other eclipses it glows bright orange like a brand new penny (“copper moon?”). So when a total lunar eclipse is due, how come we don’t hear the moon morphing into hues of charcoal, chocolate or copper? Probably because “blood” is more tantalizing and is used by some to try and arouse and provoke fear (and to sell more books).

Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics

For most of human history, the moon was largely a mystery. It spawned awe and fear and to this day is the source of myth and legend. But today we know a lot about our favorite natural satellite. Do you?

0 of 10 questions complete

Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics

For most of human history, the moon was largely a mystery. It spawned awe and fear and to this day is the source of myth and legend. But today we know a lot about our favorite natural satellite. Do you?

0 of questions complete

7) Can total lunar eclipses predict earthquakes?

The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of Feb. 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. The magnitude was determined to be of Richter magnitude 6.7. Fifteen hours later, a total lunar eclipse took place and there were some that suggested that the alignment of the sun, Earth and moon was responsible.

Dr. William Kaufmann, who was the director of the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles back then and he noted that, “Today the sun and moon are pulling the Earth in exactly opposite directions. As a result, the Earth is squeezed into the shape of a football instead of a sphere, and we believe that gravitational forces and tidal stresses caused by this alignment are probably what triggered the earthquake.” However, there have been many total lunar eclipses in recent history and only a few isolated cases were accompanied by any significant earthquake activity. While the sun-Earth-moon alignment (called a syzygy) might be one ingredient in causing an earthquake, any actual relationship is highly inconclusive.   

8) How a lunar eclipse saved Columbus

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World, he brought with him an almanac written by a great German astronomer, Johannes Müller von Königsberg, known by his Latin pseudonym, Regiomontanus. The almanac covered the years 1475-1506. Regiomontanus’ almanac listed upcoming eclipses of the moon. 

On his third and final voyage in May 1502, Columbus became shipwrecked on the island of Jamaica in June 1503 and ran into trouble with the local natives who refused to provide food and water for his crew.  But Columbus also knew from Regiomontanus’ almanac that a total eclipse of the moon was expected shortly after moonrise on the evening of Feb. 29, 1504, so he threatened the natives to cut off the moon’s light.

 As the eclipse progressed, the frightened natives agreed to help Columbus … if he brought the moon back to them. Since he knew when totality would end, Columbus told the natives when the moon would reappear. He had no problems with the natives after that.

9) Strange Selenelions

When both the sun and the eclipsed moon can be observed at the same time we have a “selenelion” or “selenehelion.” This can happen only just before sunset or just after sunrise, and both bodies will appear just above the horizon at nearly opposite points in the sky. Although the Earth is positioned directly between the sun and eclipsed moon and seeing both in the sky is a geometric impossibility, it is possible because the  refraction of light through the Earth’s atmosphere causes both objects to appear higher in the sky than their true geometric position.

10) 2018: The next lunar eclipse visible from U.S.

The next total eclipse of the moon that will be available to North Americans will occur on the morning of Jan. 31st, 2018. Totality will be visible from the western and central portions of the continent, while the East will only see the opening partial stage before the moon sets. After that, the next time all of North America will be able to enjoy a total lunar eclipse from start to finish will be on the night of Jan. 20-21st, 2019.

Editor’s note: If you snap a great photo of the total lunar eclipse tonight want to share it for a possible story or gallery, send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com. 

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer’s Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. 

The full moon tonight (Sept. 27) will be an especially special lunar occasion. In addition to being a traditional “harvest moon,” the moon will be at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, making it a so-called “supermoon.” Plus, skywatchers people across North and South America, Europe and Africa will get to see a lunar eclipse, because the moon will pass into the Earth’s shadow.

You can watch the harvest moon lunar eclipse live in a webcast by the Slooh Community Observatory. You can also watch the total lunar eclipse on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

But why does tonight’s full moon called a harvest moon? Traditionally, the harvest moon is the name that is assigned to the full moon that falls closest to the autumn equinox, which occurred on Sept. 23. (Technically speaking, it’s autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere). [Tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse: When and How to See It]

The equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator. At that time, most points on the Earth have almost exactly even proportions of day and night — 12 hours each.

Besides astronomical events, however, fall signals a time to reap the crops that have been grown all summer. That’s why it is called a harvest moon.

“Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans and wild rice — the chief Indian staples — are now ready for gathering,” Space.com’s skywatching columnist Joe Rao wrote in an article about the full moon names of 2015.

The harvest moon is also sometimes called the “corn moon,” too.

“At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work into the night by the light of this moon,” Rao added in a 2013 article about the moon names. “Usually the moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe.”

Editor’s Note:If you snap an amazing picture of the September 27 total lunar eclipse, you can send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

NASA will reveal a “major science finding” about Mars on Monday morning (Sept. 28), and you can follow the announcement live.

Researchers and NASA officials will unveil the discovery — which the agency described in a media advisory as a “Mars mystery solved” — during a press conference Monday at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT). You can watch the Mars announcement live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.

Participating in Monday morning’s event are:

• Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters
• Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters
• Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
• Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology
• Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona in Tucson, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft

NASA currently operates five spacecraft around and on Mars — the rovers Opportunity and Curiosity, which landed in 2004 and 2012, respectively, and the orbiters Mars Odyssey, MRO and MAVEN (which stands for Mars Environment and Volatile Evolution).

Mars Odyssey arrived at the Red Planet in 2001, and MRO got there in 2006. MAVEN just celebrated its one-year anniversary in Mars orbit last week.

Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft and India’s Mars Orbiter Mission probe are also still eyeing the Red Planet from above, bringing the number of currently functional Mars orbiters to five.

MRO’s HiRISE camera features a telescopic lens that can pick out features as small as 3.3 feet (1 meter) across on the Martian surface. The camera also collects images in near-infrared wavelengths, allowing researchers to learn about the mineralogy of Mars.

“These new, high-resolution images are providing unprecedented views of layered materials, gullies, channels, and other science targets, in addition to characterizing possible future landing sites,” NASA officials wrote in a description of the HiRISE instrument.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

In a total lunar eclipse this Sunday (Sept. 27), the surface of the moon will appear to be a deep crimson color, and people around the world will be able to watch the celestial spectacle online.

The so-called supermoon lunar eclipse will be visible in most of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, western Asia and the eastern Pacific Ocean. But wherever you are, you can watch the eclipse live via a webcast by the Slooh Community Observatory. The Slooh broadcast begins at 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT), and will provide views of the eclipse from three different countries, including a stream of the eclipse rising over Stonehenge in England, as well as expert commentary.

You can also watch the lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. [Tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse: When and How to See It]

Slooh’s tops the list of several live streams to see the lunar eclipse tonight by NASA, observatories and other skywatching groups. Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. A moon in this position is often called a “blood moon” because the lunar surface is colored red during the event. This is caused by sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere before it hits the moon’s surface.

This weekend’s eclipse is particularly remarkable because it is also a supermoon, a full moon that takes place when the satellite is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit (also called perigee). A supermoon eclipse is a rare event: The last one took place in 1982, and the next one won’t happen until 2033. There were only five total supermoon eclipses in the 20th century. 

In addition, Sunday’s full moon is a Harvest Moon, meaning it is the closest full moon to the autumnal equinox. As a result, Slooh has dubbed the event a “Mega Harvest Moon Eclipse.”

The eclipse will begin when the tip of the moon enters the outer portion of the Earth’s shadow, starting at about 8:11 p.m. EDT (0011 GMT). The moon will reach complete totality (it will be completely submerged in the darkest part of Earth’s shadow) at about 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 GMT). The eclipse will end at about 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT).

Editor’s note: If you snap a great photo of the supermoon total lunar eclipse tonight and want to share it for a possible story or gallery, send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com. 

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

From the earliest of times, philosophers and scientists have tried to understand the relationship between animate and inanimate matter. But the origin of life remains one of the major scientific riddles to be solved.

The building blocks of life as we know it essentially consist of four groups of chemicals: proteins, nucleic acids, lipids (fats) and carbohydrates. There was much excitement about the possibility of finding amino acids (the ingredients for proteins) on comets or distant planets because some scientists believe that life on Earth, or at least its building blocks, may have originally come from outer space and been deposited by meteorites.

But there are now extensive examples of how natural processes on Earth can convert simple molecules into these building blocks. Scientists have demonstrated in the lab how to make amino acids, simple sugars, lipids and even nucleotides – the basic units of DNA – from very simple chemicals, under conditions that could have existed on early earth. What still eludes them is the point in the process when a chemical stew becomes an organism. How did the first lifeforms become alive?

Although there is some debate about the definition of life, it is generally recognised that all life requires the formation of a sustainable cell, and cells must be capable of reproduction. In human cells, this is done using strands of the chemical DNA. When cells divide, they use the DNA as a blueprint for how to make the new cells.

But cell division doesn’t always produce an exact copy of the DNA. Usually this copying mistake, or mutation, is a disadvantage and the cell can be discarded. But sometimes the mutation confers a benefit or advantage to the cell (or organism) in its present environment. In this case we say it is “selected”, meaning that it thrives and multiplies to the detriment of other cells.

It’s all in the chemistry

But how did the very first cells emerge? Living systems are chemically based and therefore must obey the laws of science. Life appears to be just a series of chemical reactions – and we now understand how these reactions work at the molecular level. So surely this should tell us how life came about?

A vesicle, a cell-like formation with a membrane made of fatty acids.
Credit: Vesicle by shurikart/shutterstock.com

The conversion of these simple biomolecules into more complex ones has been observed under a variety of elementary conditions. For example, fatty acids – a type of lipid building-block molecule – naturally clump together into membrane-like structures, called vesicles, and even undergo chemical processes that resemble cell division and replication. Making simple replicating systems under self-sustaining conditions has also been shown to occur for both simple nucleotides (fragments of DNA) and peptides (fragments of proteins).

Creating order

The real problem is in understanding how this “machinery” of chemicals came together to generate life. The watershed where lifeless chemical activity is transformed into organised biological metabolism is extremely difficult to identify and the trigger for this is a key ingredient missing from the “primordial soup”.

The assumption that early life forms must have been similar to what we see today may be preventing us from answering this question. It’s possible that there were many unsuccessful precursors that bore little resemblance to present-day life. There has been speculation that primitive starting points could even have been based around an element other than carbon (the substance at the heart of all life today). Some researchers suggest that life may have originally evolved in liquids other than water. These alternatives are fascinating, but it’s difficult to find a starting point for researching them because they are so unfamiliar.

Off balance

A key trait that sets life apart from inanimate matter is its reliance on organisation. Molecules must be arranged in a specific way and replicate according to a detailed pattern. But the natural tendency of the whole universe is towards a state of equilibrium, or balance – where everything is spread out and nothing is ordered. Maintaining an ordered structure means life is constantly off-balance and this requires energy, which organisms must extract from their surroundings.

One way that organisms do this is to cause movement of molecules or even sub-atomic particles that can then generate energy for a cell. For example, organisms living in hydrothermal vents on the sea floor get their energy from the transfer of protons through the cell membrane.

Structure of protein
Credit: Iva Hafner-Bratkovič, Helena Gradišar, Sabina Božič and Tibor Dolez

Living systems maintain their “off-balance” state by combining the ability to self-replicate with the ability to extract energy from their surroundings. To discover the origin of life, we need to understand how these properties combined to form a sustainable unit.

Some scientists are adopting a top-down approach, attempting to answer this question by removing bits of a living cell to determine the minimum structure required to sustain life. Others are approaching it from the bottom-up by combining the building blocks in a primitive container to mimic a simple cell.

While both approaches may be enlightening, the precise moment of transition from chemical to life (and vice versa) still evades us. But the lack of discovery is fascinating in itself – it confirms that creating life is difficult and requires conditions that are no longer naturally present on the Earth. A breakthrough in this area would not only tell us the requirements for life, but also the circumstances of its emergence.

Michael Page, Professor of physical organic chemistry, University of Huddersfield

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.

A lunar eclipse provides spectacular viewing opportunities for everyone, from amateur skywatchers to experienced observers — read on to learn how to describe what you see.

Here at Space.com, we are inviting our readers to make observations of the total lunar eclipse on Sunday to experience the amazing celestial event, 

No matter whether you plan to watch this moon show for entertainment alone or make planned observations, you should be on alert for unusual happenings. In rare cases, the Earth’s shadow projected onto the moon has had a zigzag shape, or there has been an abnormal pattern of darkness inside the umbra. If skies are clear, this should be a very extensively observed lunar eclipse because of the favorable combination of a weekend night, comfortable early-fall temperatures and visibility of the event from coast to coast.  [Supermoon Lunar Eclipse on Sunday: When and How to See It]

If bad weather spoils your eclipse night on Sunday, you can watch the event live online. The Slooh Community Observatory will host a webcast at 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) and feature expert commentary on the event. You can also watch the lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

Coloration and darkness

The brightness of the moon varies widely from one eclipse to another. One reason is that the moon sometimes passes through the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow and, at other times, through the lighter outer umbra. But there is evidence of actual differences in the shadow from year to year. Thus, a careful description of the colors seen on the totally eclipsed moon and their changes is valuable.

The hues depend on the optical equipment used, usually appearing more vivid with the naked eye than in telescopes. In the early 20th century, French astronomer André Danjon introduced the following five-point scale of lunar luminosity (“L”) to classify eclipses:

• L = 0: Very dark eclipse, moon almost invisible, especially in mid-totality.
• L = 1: Dark eclipse, gray or brownish coloration, details distinguishable only with difficulty.
• L = 2: Deep red or rust-colored eclipse, with a very dark central part in the shadow, and outer edge of the umbra relatively bright.
• L = 3: Brick-red eclipse, usually with a bright or yellow rim to the shadow.
• L = 4: Very bright copper-red or orange eclipse, with a bluish, very bright shadow rim.

Estimates of this “Danjon number” form a long-standing record of lunar-eclipse brightnesses, so they are well worth continuing even in this age, when brightness can be measured more precisely by photoelectric photometry. Visual estimates made by large numbers of people at the same time as photometric measures serve to calibrate decades of past observations. [Supermoon Lunar Eclipse of 2015: Visibility Maps]

To judge the Danjon number, you can use your naked eye, binoculars or a small telescope at low power.  A fractional estimate, such as 1.8 or 2.5, may seem the most appropriate. Try to make three measurements: Examine the moon at mid-totality and also near the beginning and end of totality to get an impression of both the inner and outer umbrae.

Another simple numerical scale for grading the brightness of total eclipses of the moon was proposed by Willard J. Fisher in 1924. It does not involve color but rather the visibility of surface features inside the umbra. Fisher gave the following definition of his scale:

• Grade 2: When the naked eye sees “spots” on the eclipsed moon, or the seas and other detail can be seen with hand instruments like opera glasses, field glasses and spyglasses.
• Grade 1: When instruments with apertures between 2 inches and 6 inches (5 to 15 centimeters) are necessary to show detail on the eclipsed surface.
• Grade 0: When apertures of 6 inches (15 cm) or more are needed.

Moon vs. stars and planets

Another procedure is to estimate the stellar magnitude of the moon during totality by comparing its brightness to the other bodies in the sky. When it’s faintest, at mid-totality, the moon may be similar in brightness to naked-eye planets or prominent stars. To see the moon and stars as comparable disks, some nearsighted observers need only remove their glasses. Another technique is to view both the eclipsed moon and comparison stars simultaneously through binoculars held backward, so that the large objective lenses are nearest to the eyes.

Breathtaking darkness

At mid-totality, the darkness of the sky is very impressive. Faint stars, which were completely washed out by the brilliant moonlight prior to the eclipse, become visible. The surrounding landscape takes on a somber hue. As totality ends, the eastern edge of the moon begins to emerge from the umbra, and the sequence of events repeats in reverse order until the spectacle is over.

Unless airborne volcanic aerosols or other unusual atmospheric effects influence its appearance, the moon’s disk should appear moderately bright, especially right around the beginning and end of totality. The lower part of the moon will likely appear brightest and glowing aruddy or coppery hue, while the upper half of the moon should look more gray or chocolate in color.

Good luck, and clear skies!

Editor’s note: If you capture an amazing view of Sunday night’s total lunar eclipse that you’d like to share for our upcoming column or image gallery, send the images to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer’s Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

With the advent of digital cameras, photographing lunar eclipses has never been simpler or easier. Here are some tips on how to capture your own souvenir portraits of one of nature’s most colorful and photogenic celestial spectacles.

If you’ve never recorded a lunar eclipse, you’ll get a chance this Sunday (Sept. 27), when the full moon gets totally eclipsed by the Earth’s dark shadow core, or umbra. It will be a so-called “supermoon” total lunar eclipse since the moon will be at perigee, its closest point to Earth in its orbit.

To find out if you’ll be able to see the eclipse, check out Space.com’s skywatching guide. Then use the following tips to photograph this amazing lunar event. [How to Photograph a Total Lunar Eclipse (Photo Guide)]

You will also be able to watch the lunar eclipse live online. The online Slooh Community Observatory will host a webcast at 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) on Sunday. You can also watch the lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

Get a telescope or telephoto lens

To get dramatic close-up views of the eclipsed moon, you’ll need a telescope or telephoto lens with a focal length between 500 and 2,000 millimeters. A 300-mm lens or scope will yield a lunar image that’s only 3 mm across, just barely large enough to show surface details. You can boost the lens or scope’s effective focal length by adding a 2× teleconverter or Barlow lens, respectively.

A telescope with a focal length of 2,000 mm produces a lunar image about 18 mm in diameter, which nearly fills the sensor of a full-frame, 35-mm-format digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. But for many consumer DSLRs that use smaller APS-C sensors, this image size is going to be a bit too large, with the edges of the moon getting cropped in the camera frame. To remedy this, use a focal reducer to make the lunar image fit within the frame, or switch to a telescope with shorter focal length, say, 1,200 mm.

This map shows the areas of the world from which viewers can see the total lunar eclipse. The Americas will have a particularly good view, especially the eastern parts.
Credit: Sky & Telescope

Use a tripod

Be sure to mount the telescope or telephoto lens on a sturdy tripod for stability and to minimize camera shake, which will blur the images. You can reduce vibrations even further by locking the DSLR’s viewfinder mirror up and using an electronic “cable release” to operate the shutter button. A good alternative would be to use the camera’s built-in delay timer to open the shutter.

Carefully focus your telescope/camera combination to obtain sharp images of the moon. Many DSLR cameras now offer “live view” mode, which allows you to see what the camera sensor sees, using its built-in LCD screen. You can zoom in on the image up to 10× magnification to check its focus. 

Use digital, experiment with exposure

The greatest advantage of digital cameras over film for shooting the eclipse is that you get instant results. You can see what the image exactly looks like by reviewing it on the camera’s LCD screen. Does the image look overexposed or out of focus? Not a big deal. Simply adjust the shutter speed or refocus the telescope and try again. Memory cards are now dirt-cheap, so it costs practically nothing to take dozens or even hundreds of photos of the upcoming rare event.

Nobody knows for sure how bright, or how dark, the moon is going to be during totality since it varies significantly from one eclipse to the next. So the best advice would be to “bracket” your exposures, that is, shoot as many images as you can using various exposure settings. Don’t be afraid to experiment to find the best combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity for your particular setup.

Remember, the eclipse will start with a dazzlingly bright full moon. The moon then dramatically dims as the eclipse progresses, appearing dimmest around mid-totality. Afterward, it gradually regains its brightness, and the moon becomes full again as the eclipse ends. By taking lots of pictures, you’ll increase your chances of catching some really good shots. You can also assemble the series of images to create an animation of the eclipse.

During totality, keep your exposures as short as possible by boosting the camera’s ISO setting to 400, or even higher. This will prevent the image from smearing due to Earth’s rotation, especially if you are using a fixed tripod. To extend your exposure time to a few seconds and capture the rich red and orange hues of totality, use a motor-driven, polar-aligned equatorial mount to accurately track the moon as it moves across the sky. [Total Lunar Eclipse of Sept. 27: A Complete Skywatching Guide]

Imelda Joson demonstrates how the afocal projection technique is done using an iPhone 6 and the Swarovski spotting scope that she uses for birdwatching. This is the exact setup used to capture the accompanying photo of the first-quarter moon.
Credit: Imelda B. Joson and Edwin L. Aguirre

Shooting the eclipse with a smartphones

Today’s latest generation of smartphone cameras are capable of taking stunning photos of the moon. However, since you can’t remove or replace the lens of smartphone cameras, you’ll have to use the so-called “afocal projection” method to shoot the eclipse. It sounds intimidating, but it’s really not. It simply means you have to aim the phone camera directly into the telescope eyepiece to take the shot. One advantage of afocal photography is that the telescope will greatly increase the effective focal length of the setup so you can capture decent-sized images of the moon even with a smartphone.

Holding the smartphone by hand is the simplest, though not necessarily the easiest way, to aim the camera. The biggest challenge is to hold the phone and try to keep it as steady as you center the moon in the camera frame, focus on the lunar surface and press the shutter button. Since the moon drifts steadily across the telescope’s field of view when you’re using a stationary tripod, you only have a half minute or so to take the exposure before you’ll need to re-adjust the telescope and camera to keep the moon aligned with the eyepiece and camera lens.

For best results, purchase a commercial bracket or adapter from camera retailers or sporting goods stores that sell optics and accessories for hunting or birding (bird-watching enthusiasts call afocal photography “digiscoping”). Alternatively, do-it-yourselfers can make their own custom mounts. Whatever your choice, make sure the bracket or adapter will fit your eyepiece and will hold the smartphone securely. Be sure to focus the telescope visually first before mounting the camera. If you see vignetting, or darkening around the edge of the image, that means the camera is positioned too far from the eyepiece. To reduce vignetting, move the camera as close to the eyepiece as possible while keeping it centered.

Zooming in can also help eliminate vignetting and increase the image size. But don’t overdo the zoom function — smartphones generally use “digital zoom” to simply enlarge the camera’s picture elements, or pixels, but doesn’t improve the image’s resolution. You can use the phone camera’s autofocus and auto-exposure modes to take the images, or if you prefer, you can adjust the settings to some degree yourself (check the camera manual on how to do this). There are also third-party camera apps you can purchase that will let you control the exposure and edit the photos.

Finally, make sure the smartphone is fully charged since you will be using the LCD screen all the time. Cold temperatures will also cause the battery to lose its charge quickly.

Since the images are stored in your smartphone, you can email, text or share them via social media right away.

Parting shot

The key to imaging the total lunar eclipse is to keep on shooting. If you don’t like what you get, make the necessary corrections or adjustments and shoot again. Unlike a total eclipse of the sun, in which totality lasts only a few minutes, or seconds, during this Sunday’s total lunar eclipse the moon will be immersed in the Earth’s shadow for more than an hour, so you can just keep on trying until you capture a “keeper.”

Most important, take a few moments in between exposures to enjoy the eclipse with your naked eye or through binoculars. No photo or video can compare with the real thing, so try to enjoy it visually, too.

Good luck and clear skies!

Editor’s note: If you capture an amazing view of Sunday night’s total lunar eclipse that you’d like to share for our upcoming column or image gallery, send the images to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Veteran astrophotographers Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre have observed more than a dozen lunar eclipses together since their very first one — a penumbral eclipse on July 27, 1980 — which they viewed from the Philippines. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

The Luna lamp by Acorn Studio was inspired by the moon, and is currently available via an Indiegogo campaign. Credit: Acorn

Ever look up at the full moon on a clear night and wish you could bring it straight into your home? Well, the next best thing is now available, and it’s called Luna.

The spherical Luna lamp looks strikingly like the real moon, so it’s immediate eye candy for night-sky enthusiasts (or really for just about anyone). Lit from within, it radiates a diffuse, soft-yellow glow, and the surface is covered in a patchy light-and-dark pattern, just like the one that’s created by the maria (old volcanic material) on the real lunar surface.

Currently available via an Indiegogo fundraiser campaign, the lamp, made by a company called Acorn Studios, has an adjustable luminosity, and comes in seven different sizes, ranging from 3.2 inches (8.1 centimeters) in diameter, which can be purchased for $75, to 23.6 inches (59.9 cm), for $875. If this Sunday’s super lunar eclipseleaves you particularly inspired, this might be the home décor for you. [How to See Sunday’s Supermoon Lunar Eclipse]

The Indiegogo page advertising the lamp features an adorable video starring a miniature astronaut and a Godzilla monster who encounter each other on the surface of the moon — or rather, the Luna lamp. In addition to being advertised as a piece of art, Acorn Studios touts the Luna’s durability, so it can be put on the floor and even be played with. The lamp is made from fiberglass and latex — according to the Indiegogo page, it is water-resistant, heat-resistant and “crashworthy.”

The lamp is certainly inspiring, and the company doesn’t underestimate just how beautiful it is. In fact, from this description, it almost sounds like the Luna lamp could basically solve all every problem in the owner’s life: “Luna is a design décor that turns your home into a magical world. It’s a lamp that lightens up your favorite reading corner. It’s your companion who embraces you with endless tenderness and warmth late at night when things in life just don’t go smoothly. Your mood varies every day, but Luna stays the same for you. You deserve a better way of living with Luna.”

The cost of the lamp may be high for some people, especially because it would be great to get four or five of these and fill a room with them. Buying via the Indiegogo page gets you a 20 percent discount on most sizes of the lamp, so if you’re serious about buying, now might be the time. The campaign ends Oct. 31.

This Sunday will be a particularly awesome night for moon watching: The lunar eclipse will also be a supermoon and a Harvest Moon. Check out our full coverage of the event right here.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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The moon turns blood red in this 3:30 a.m. ET view of the total lunar eclipse on April 15, 2014 as seen by a telescope at the University of Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter at Steward Observatory atop Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. Credit: Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

On Sunday (Sept. 27), skywatchers across the United States will be in for a special treat: The full “supermoon” (a full moon when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit) will go into eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow of the Earth.

There are several “flavors” of eclipse. A penumbral eclipse happens when the moon just grazes the thinnest part of Earth’s shadow. If the moon partly goes into the shadow, observers see a partial eclipse. A total eclipse is the most spectacular of the three: The moon goes fully into the shadow and appears either red or brown.

Sometimes an eclipse moon is called a “blood moon” because of this rusty color. But why does the moon turn red, and not simply darken to black when it goes into the shadow? As NASA explains, it’s because the Earth’s atmosphere extends beyond the planet, and sunlight passes through it, still reaching the moon. [Supermoon Lunar Eclipse 2015: Full ‘Blood Moon’ Coverage]

“During a total lunar eclipse, white sunlight hitting the atmosphere on the sides of the Earth gets absorbed and then radiated out (scattered). Blue-colored light is most affected,” NASA officials wrote online. “That is, the atmosphere filters out (scatters away) most of the blue-colored light. What’s left over is the orange- and red-colored light.”

The light through Earth’s atmosphere then falls onto the moon. NASA notes that the red light seen during a lunar eclipse is much dimmer than a typical moon’s light. That happens because the red light is reflected back to Earth, and it is much dimmer than the white light the sun usually shines onto the moon’s surface.

The moon turns different shades of red, orange or gold with each eclipse. That’s because the shade of the light reaching the moon depends on what is in Earth’s atmosphere (the amount of water and particles), as well as the atmosphere’s temperature and humidity, NASA wrote. For example, a recent volcanic eruption could send more particulates into the atmosphere, further darkening the moon during an eclipse.

Editor’s Note: If you snap an amazing picture of the Sept. 27 total lunar eclipse and want to be featured in a story or gallery, you can send photos, comments, and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

In this extended color image of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, rounded and bizarrely textured mountains, informally named the Tartarus Dorsa, rise up along Pluto’s day-night terminator and show intricate but puzzling patterns of blue-gray ridges and reddish material in between. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from NASA’s New Horizons flyby on July 14, it’s that we have a really incomplete understanding of planetary evolution. And now, in a new image release by the Pluto mission, there’s yet another landscape (actually, landscapes) that, for now, defies explanation.

PHOTO: New Horizons Returns Photos of Hazy ‘Arctic’ Pluto

In an eerie observation of Pluto’s terminator (the line that separates Pluto nighttime from sunlight on the dwarf planet’s surface) is a very alien-looking landscape with regular ripples that resemble the scale patterns on a snakeskin. The most exciting thing about this image is that, like most of the high-resolution views being beamed back from the Kuiper belt, planetary scientists only have a vague idea as to what might be going on. [On Pluto’s Doorstep: Latest Photos by New Horizons Probe]

“It’s a unique and perplexing landscape stretching over hundreds of miles,” said William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead from Washington University in St. Louis, in a Sept. 24 news release. “It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology. This’ll really take time to figure out; maybe it’s some combination of internal tectonic forces and ice sublimation driven by Pluto’s faint sunlight.”

ANALYSIS: Pluto: A Very Different Beast to Neptune’s Moon Triton

In short, it’s a conundrum, but it sure makes for an intriguing mystery.

While scientists ponder this latest stop on Pluto’s mystery tour, more stunning imagery has been downlinked, including the highest-resolution color view of Pluto yet, with zoomed-in potions of the tiny world’s heart-shaped region, on a plane informally called Sputnik Planum. You can get lost in the full-resolution image here.

Detail of the interface between Sputnik Planum and surrounding mountainous region.
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

The region, that has already been identified as possessing vast flows of exotic ices, also has what appear to be small rocky islands of material focused around the adjoining “cells” of icy material. Dunes, or features with a dune-like appearance, are also present. Closer analysis of these cells have revealed the icy surface is of a corrugated texture — another feature that is being explained by educated guesswork. Mission scientists think the texture may be down to sublimation processes — where ice is heated and turns into gas, creating Pluto’s thin atmosphere.

Detail of the high-resolution images of Pluto’s Sputnik Planum taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft just before closest approach on July 14, 2015, are the sharpest images to date of Pluto’s varied terrain—revealing details down to scales of 270 meters.
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

Additional information about the distribution of methane ices have also been acquired, presenting more questions than answers. One puzzle is that methane ices are abundant across Sputnik Planum’s planes, but mysteriously lacking from another large region informally called Cthulhu Regio. Besides Sputnik, methane ice seems to be abundant in brighter regions of the surface, accumulating in planes and crater rims. Inside craters, however, there’s none.

PHOTOS: New Pluto Pics Show Beautiful, Complex World

“It’s like the classic chicken-or-egg problem,” said Will Grundy, New Horizons surface composition team lead from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. “We’re unsure why this is so, but the cool thing is that New Horizons has the ability to make exquisite compositional maps across the surface of Pluto, and that’ll be crucial to resolving how enigmatic Pluto works.”

We have only just begun exploring Pluto and its alien landscape and, as these new observations can attest, we are probably decades from fully appreciating the underlying dynamics that drive Pluto’s atmosphere and surface composition. And the best thing is that we’ve only just begun our tour of Pluto; New Horizons will continue to relay data to Earth well into 2016, revealing a surprisingly dynamic little world on the outskirts of the solar system.

Source: NASA

This article was provided by Discovery News.

A new art project by Richard Clar will bounce images and sounds representing the moon landing off of the moon, capturing the radio waves with this satellite at the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the Netherlands. Credit: ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy

Just in time for this Sunday’s (Sept. 27) lunar eclipse, artist Richard Clar will execute two moon-inspired projects that will send a part of Neil Armstrong back to the moon and create an introduction between the “light side” and “dark side” of the lunar surface. 

Clar’s two-part event will bounce some very special radio waves off of the moon from a radio dish in Italy and retrieve them at Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the Netherlands. The first transmission is encoded with a version of Armstrong’s heart activity that was recorded as he became the first person to set foot on the moon, as well as an image of Armstrong’s moon footprint. A second signal will carry an image of the moon’s dark side, which only the Apollo astronauts have seen in person. 

The transmissions, called “Giant Step” and “Lune sur la Lune” (“Moon on the Moon”), will be made on Sept. 27 at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) and 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), respectively, and will soon after appear online at www.rockthemoon.com.

For the project, Clar took a copy of Armstrong’s electrocardiogram (EKG) — a record of his heart’s electrical activity — captured as the astronaut stepped onto the surface of the moon for the first time. Clar turned the EKG into sound with the help of data scientist Ryan Compton. Then, jazz performer Roberto Miranda used the EKG as inspiration for a series of sounds on the double-bass. That recording will fly on Saturday along with the iconic images, also in the form of radio waves. The “dark side” image will bounce off the moon’s “light side,” which is always facing Earth.

First footprint on the moon left by Neil Armstrong.
Credit: NASA

“I wanted the art to say something about the first humans to set foot on the moon. Think how many living beings have observed the moon for eons … and now we have made a number of trips to the moon and back. I want people to have new experiences through my artwork,” Clar said in a statement.

This project is inspired by artist Daniela de Paulis’ work bouncing images off of the moon, which she first did in 2009. (One of her projects worked with NASA to beam moon-inspired children’s artwork off of the lunar surface.) This is far from Clar’s first stab at space art: His projects have used new technology to explore orbital debris, the search for extraterrestrial life and other out-of-this-world themes.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.