Watch out for that red moon
2003-05-14 15:05
Cape Town - An hour or so before sunrise on Friday morning, the full moon will start to darken dramatically as it moves towards the western horizon, turning a coppery red-amber colour.
According to Tibetan tradition, the effects of any actions that you take at this time, good or bad, will be multiplied a thousandfold.
According to Dave Laney, senior astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town, what you will see - if you bother to rise early and watch - is a total lunar eclipse.
"On the morning of May 16 the moon will pass through the Earth's shadow, the first total lunar eclipse since January 2001."
Laney says a totally eclipsed moon usually appears copper-orange to red, for the same reason that the western sky looks orange-red after sunset.
"The Earth's atmosphere bends the sun's light so that some light always reaches the surface of the moon.
"What gets through is mostly red light; the exact colour depends on the amount of pollution, dust and smoke in the air."
The eclipse will start just after 03:00 on Friday.
"The Earth's shadow has two parts. In the 'penumbra', direct sunlight is only partially blocked. When the moon enters the penumbra at 03:05, it will begin getting dimmer, but the effect will be very hard to see.
"At 04:03, the moon will enter the 'umbra', the much darker part of the shadow where direct sunlight is completely blocked and only the red glow of the Earth's atmosphere lights the moon.
"The right side of the moon will begin to darken, and it will look as though some of the moon is missing. By the time all of the moon is inside the umbra, at 05:14, it will have changed colour, looking dim and amber to copper.
"The lower edge of the moon will probably look brighter because it will be closer to the edge of the Earth's shadow.
"This 'total' phase of the eclipse lasts less than an hour, ending at 06:07, and the moon leaves the umbra at 07:17. For all but the western third or so of South Africa, this is after moonset.
"The eclipse ends when the moon leaves the penumbra and returns into full sunlight at 08:15, but by that time the moon will have set even in the westernmost parts of southern Africa."
Historically, says Laney, eclipses - both solar and lunar - were regarded as bad omens, especially when astronomy was not sufficiently developed to predict when they would happen.
"Today we can predict eclipses to the second; they remain majestic natural spectacles, and unlike our ancestors we do not have to be afraid of them."
Laney says there will be two total lunar eclipses this year. The second will take place in November.
- SAPA