WFMW: One, Two, Three…. MOON! MwaahHaHaHa!
Well, this is a very special Wednesday. Why, you ask? Well, tonight at around 10pm EST, A lunar eclipse will occur when the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow.
For those of you with longer attention spans, and would enjoy a little science lesson partially regurgitated from Wikipedia, I encourage you to continue….
This XXX event can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. An astrological three-way, perhaps? Hence, the Moon is always full near a lunar eclipse. Oh my… The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes. I thought it was only my husband with a fixation on his orbital nodes?!?!
The red colouring arises because sunlight reaching the Moon must pass through a long and dense layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, where it is scattered. Hey, just like me after senior prom… Shorter wavelengths are more likely to be scattered by the small particles, and so by the time the light has passed through the atmosphere, the longer wavelengths dominate. Now we’re talkin’… It is the resulting light we perceive as red. Now you blush?!…. This is the same effect that causes sunsets and sunrises to turn the sky a reddish colour; an alternative way of considering the problem is to realise that, as viewed from the Moon, the Sun would appear to be setting (or rising) behind the Earth. The amount of refracted light depends on the amount of dust or clouds in the atmosphere; this also controls how much light is scattered. In general, the dustier the atmosphere, the more that other wavelengths of light will be removed (compared to red light), leaving the resulting light a deeper red colour. The perfect combination of kinky and romantic!
Thanks for the review, Wikipedia.
We would be totally jazzed… except that in this here valley, on the western slope of the Canadian Rockies, it is predicted to be all cloudy, socked in and overcast-y. Hmmph!
For those of you fortunate enough to not be all socked in, all cloudy and overcast-y, it will be lovely…. maybe not XXX, but certainly PG13… Enjoy!
We’re planning on sky watching and hopefully catching a few photographs as well. I hope something blows those clouds away so you can get a glimpse.
Hahaha, I rushed over here to see what you were going to discuss about mooning people! I didn’t know about the eclipse though, so thanks!