Tonight is the big night for the lunar eclipse!  The next one won’t come around until December of 2010.  The only wild card is the weather.  Clouds are already streaming into southern Kansas in advance of tomorrow’s storm, but we can hope they hold off just long enough to allow viewing of the eclipse.  The goal is to have as many students as possible view and photograph it.

For a reminder:  The full moon will rise in the eastern sky around the same time as the sun is setting to the west tonight.  Around 7:45, the moon will begin to enter the outer edge of the Earth’s shadow (like the image to the right).  By 9:26pm, it will be fully within the deepest, darkest part of the shadow (the “umbra” - like the middle image) and throughout the 9pm hour, the moon will appear a very deep, copper-reddish hue.  By around 10pm, it will begin to emerge from the shadow (left image) and by 11pm, it will have returned fully to its “full” phase. 

Photos:  I have encouraged all students to take pictures if possible.  For those that are emailed to me, I’ll include them in tomorrow’s class slides.  Please note the TIME that the photo was taken if you send them my way, that way I can sequence them for the class.  All photos can be sent emailed to me - my email address is on the school website. 

After discussing the upcoming snowstorm (maybe an inch or two of snow tomorrow?) and the clouds that may inhibit our eclipse viewing this evening, we completed a quiz on the phases of the moon.

Homework:  None

Image credit:  www.mreclipse.com