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Earth to play peekaboo with full moon and sun
Total lunar eclipse will reveal red ball, if the weather cooperates

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer  
First published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008

ALBANY -- With most television shows still in reruns caused by the recently settled writers' strike, the real prime-time show Wednesday will be in the night sky.
     
A silvery full moon will transform slowly to dusky red or orange by the time a total lunar eclipse reaches its peak at 10:26 p.m. The show then will reverse itself and be over just after midnight.
No special equipment is needed to view a lunar eclipse, although clouds could obscure the moon. The forecast from the National Weather Service calls for partly cloudy skies.
A good pair of binoculars will bring the moon into sharper focus. And for an even closer look, two local observatories offer a peek through high-quality telescopes.
Lunar eclipses are much more common than their solar cousins and can happen up to three times a year, although each phenomenon is visible from only a part of Earth, depending on how the moon, Earth and sun line up.
A lunar eclipse occurs only during a full moon, and only if Earth passes between the moon and the sun, with the moon passing through part of Earth's shadow. This shadow is composed of two cone-shaped parts, one within the other.
The outer shadow, called the penumbra, is a zone where Earth blocks a portion of the sun's rays. The inner shadow or umbra is the area where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the moon.
Janie Schwab, executive director of Dudley Observatory in Schenectady, said one of the last total lunar eclipses visible from North America came early on Oct. 28, 2004, just hours after the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918. Boston fans took a special delight in the Sox-red moon hanging in the night sky.
Humidity and particulate matter in the air can affect the color of an eclipsed moon, Schwab said. Because no major volcanic eruptions have taken place recently, the moon probably will appear vivid red or orange during the total phase, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Web page on the event.
The next total lunar eclipse visible in the Capital Region will be Dec. 21, 2010.
Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.