Tuesday 7 October 2014

Total Lunar Eclipse to occur tomorrow, Wednesday, October 8th

A total lunar eclipse will take place on 8 October 2014. It is the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2014, and the second in a tetrad (four total lunar eclipses in series). Other eclipses in the tetrad are those of April 15, 2014, April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015.

The eclipse will be visible in its entirety over the Northern Pacific. Viewers in North America will experience the eclipse after midnight on Wednesday, October 8, and the eclipse will be visible from the Western Pacific, Australia, entire Indonesia, Japan and Eastern Asia after sunset on the evening of October 8.



During the lunar eclipse, the sun and moon will be exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky. In a perfect alignment like this (called a “syzygy”), such an observation would seem impossible.

The images of both the sun and moon are expected to be lifted above the horizon by atmospheric refraction. This will allow people on earth to see the sun for several extra minutes before it actually has risen and the moon for several extra minutes after it has actually set.

As a consequence of this atmospheric trick, watchers in different locations will have a chance to observe this unusual sight firsthand, with the possibility of simultaneously seeing the sun rising in the east, while the eclipsed full moon is setting in the west.



Credit: ThisDay/Wikipedia

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