SALT LAKE CITY— A lunar eclipse will be visible throughout Utah Wednesday morning, and the Salt Lake Astronomical Society has tips for those wanting to view the event. It’s the only visible eclipse in North America this year.
During a lunar eclipse, the Moon moves over the Earth’s shadow in space. Darkness then falls across the entirety of the Moon. Starting at 3:51 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, the first part of the moon’s outer shadow will start to interfere. At 4:48 a.m. the darker inner shadow, the umbra, begins to show its face covering the whole moon by 5:51 a.m.
Deep coppery colors of the eclipse will start to show around 6:31 a.m., according to NASA, as it is colored by light reflected from Earth’s sometimes smoky atmosphere. The Moon then begins to emerge from the shadow, ending the show at 7:07 a.m. The entire eclipse is over at 9:08 a.m.
Dave Bernson, president of the astronomy club, recommends that anyone interested in watching the spectacle should go to a site with a low western horizon. Celestial bodies are usually best seem from areas not badly light-polluted.
For more information, call Joe Bauman, vice president of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, 801-913-3588, email josephmbauman@yahoo.com, or check out the club’s web site, SLAS.us.
