Australia top spot to view eclipse

jintangtang

Last Update: Monday, August 27, 2007. 1:04pm AEST

By Winsome Denyer

The top spot to be for Tuesday night's total lunar eclipse is in Australia, somewhere with low ambient light, and a good view of the moon. And the best part is you only need your eyes to see it!

Editor of Sky and Space Magazine Dave Reneke says Australia is the best position in the whole world to see the upcoming eclipse. "The moon will be passing into the Earth's shadow. Somewhere on the earth every two or three years you'll get an eclipse, but this doesn't happen all that often where you get a total eclipse," he says. The night sky spectacle will happen tomorrow night from 6:51pm, with the total eclipse beginning about an hour later at 7:50pm. The most spectacular colour will peak at 8:37pm, and then slowly begin to fade.

And it's great timing if you've got kids.

"You don't need binoculars, a pair won't hurt, but don't use a telescope it'll ruin the effect," Dave says. "This is one of those beautiful events in the sky that the whole family can get involved with, you don't need any equipment you just need your eyes and what you'll see from about 6:50pm onwards is the moon will be eaten away little bit by little bit.
"It's quite safe to look at because it's only reflected light, not direct sunlight. Then within the hour you'll see the full moon turn this beautiful coppery-red colour." Dave says it may even turn a deeper colour because of the bush fires in Greece. "When there are bush fires and events like Mount St Helen it would turn a purply colour. Those amazing bush fires in Greece will enhance it because the more pollution in the air, the deeper the red colour will be."

Australians will be privileged to see the eclipse from start to finish, while people in other countries will only see a penumbral eclipse (when only a portion of the moon disappears).

Dave describes it as a solar eclipse in reverse, although it won't hurt your eyes. "What's basically happening is, on the right hand side you've got the sun, then you've got the earth beside it then beside it on the left you've got the moon. The moon passes into our shadow because the sun is behind us. Because the sunlight goes through our atmosphere with all the pollution and lands on the moon, that's where you get the coppery-red colour. 200 years ago you wouldn't have seen this because we didn't have the industrialisation we've got today," he says.