Author Archives: mglover

Total Lunar Eclipse on April 15

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What is a total lunar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the shadow of the Earth. When the Moon is completely covered by the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow (called the umbra), then the eclipse is said to be total. Lunar eclipses only ever occur at the full Moon, as the Earth must be between the Sun and Moon to cast a shadow on the Moon.

What will it look like?

Lunar eclipse in 2008 as viewed from the USA. Photographed by John Buonomo, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

The first parts of the eclipse when the Moon is in the lighter part of Earth’s shadow (called the penumbra) are very hard to see. In this partial eclipse phase, if you’re in a very dark location and looking carefully, you may notice a  darkening of parts of the Moon’s surface.

The real interesting viewing starts when the total eclipse phase begins. At this time, the only light reaching the Moon from the Sun is light that passes just around the edges of Earth through its atmosphere. The blue colours of the sunlight get scattered away and only the redder colours reach the surface of the Moon to be reflected back for us to see. The Moon will be darker than usual and probably tinted red/orange. Exactly how much it’s tinted depends on atmospheric conditions at the time of the eclipse.

When you can I see it?

The total eclipse will begin Tuesday morning (April 15) at 4:07 am in local time for PEI. The total eclipse stage, when the Moon will look darkest and possibly reddish-orange, will last until 5:25 am. Some of the most interesting moments to watch can be just as totality is beginning (start viewing by 4:00am) or just as totality ends (start viewing by 5:20am).

Watching the entire eclipse can be kinda long and boring, but if you set your alarm clock for an appropriate time in the early morning, you can get up, watch the eclipse for however many minutes you feel like, and then probably still get back to bed for an extra hour or more of sleep before starting your day.

What if it’s cloudy?

If the weather doesn’t cooperate with viewing the eclipse in PEI (i.e. the Moon is blocked by clouds), you can watch the eclipse online in a broadcast by NASA or by Slooh Observatory.

April 12th Public Viewing: A Full House! (Updated)

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Moon1024x640_Andrew_Clark_2007

A view of the Moon through the UPEI telescope on an evening several years ago.

After several cancelled viewings due to poor weather, we finally got a successful viewing in this Saturday, April 12 – in terms of weather and attendance! The sky cleared up before the viewing and the clouds rolled back in just as it was ending.  About 25 people came out and were treated to views through our telescope and astronomy instruction. Our telescope operator for the night, Mark (a volunteer from RASC) showed guests Jupiter and its moons followed up by Earth’s own Moon.

StellariumScreenshot

Stellarium is a computer program that shows the positions and motions of stars in our sky.

While guests waited for their opportunity to go up to the telescope, fellow RASC volunteer Brian discussed the viewing objects, gave a tour of the night sky using Stellarium, and answered general astronomy questions.

It was an enjoyable night of astronomy for all involved and we hope to see just as many people at our next viewing. The time for the next public viewing is not yet set, but will likely be the second Saturday in May. Details will be posted here when available.

Public viewings are co-hosted by the UPEI Physics Department and the Charlottetown Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).

UPDATED: March 9 viewing cancelled

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UPDATE: The clouds are refusing to move out in time for our viewing scheduled for 7:45-9:45 PM tonight (Sunday, March 9), so we have to cancel the viewing and hope for better luck next month!

 

Everyone is welcome to attend public viewings.  To do so, meet in Memorial Hall in room 417 and you will be guided up to the observatory when it is available.  It is necessary to climb the stairs one floor up to the observatory, however the elevator can be taken up to the 4th floor before doing so.

Public viewings are co-hosted by the UPEI Physics Department and the Charlottetown Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).

UPDATED: Viewing on Sunday, February 9

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Updated February 11, 2014

After clouds moved in at the last minute on Saturday evening, we had to cancel and push the viewing ahead to the next day, Sunday, February 9.  That evening fortunately proved to be a clear, albeit quite chilly, but we had 12 hardy guests brave the elements to attend. Our RASC volunteers discussed astronomy topics with the guests and answered questions while they kept warm and awaited their turn to go up to the telescope.

The objects observed were the waxing gibbous Moon – in particular, some of the craters in its southern hemisphere – and Jupiter.  Despite atmospheric conditions not being at their best, we were able to see the two large brown bands near Jupiter’s equator and three of its four Galilean moons. A simulated view of what we saw is shown below (using Stellarium), although we could not make out quite that level of detail (we weren’t able to discern the Great Red Spot or smaller bands, for example)

JupiterFeb9

Public viewings are co-hosted by the UPEI Physics Department and the Charlottetown Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).

Cancelled: January 11/12 viewing

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Updated 6:08 PM January 12

Due to overcast skies, the “cloud-date” viewing scheduled for Sunday, January 12 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm is being cancelled.  This viewing was scheduled after the Saturday, January 11 viewing also had to be cancelled due to weather.

Our next regularly scheduled viewing is Saturday, February 8 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm with an alternate date of February 9 in the event of poor weather conditions.

Everyone is welcome to attend public viewings.  To do so, meet in Memorial Hall in room 417 and you will be guided up to the observatory when it is available.  It is necessary to climb the stairs one floor up to the observatory, however the elevator can be taken up to the 4th floor before doing so.

Public viewings are co-hosted by the UPEI Physics Department and the Charlottetown Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).