Total Lunar Eclipse

[burner von braun]

Hey folks,

Just a reminder to those interested that we (in North America at least) will have a total lunar eclipse Monday night (Dec 20) into Tuesday early morning. Tuesday is also the winter solstice, shortest day of the year, longest night.

Consult your local listings for time info regarding lunar totality and wear warm clothes with your playa hat.

Have a good one!

[Teo del Fuego]

thanks for the heads up! I used to be a fan of Jack Horkheimer and Star Gazer...to bad about his passing this summer.

Also, wish I had thought of your playa name first!

[moonrise]

Hey folks,

Just a reminder to those interested that we (in North America at least) will have a total lunar eclipse Monday night (Dec 20) into Tuesday early morning. Tuesday is also the winter solstice, shortest day of the year, longest night.

Consult your local listings for time info regarding lunar totality and wear warm clothes with your playa hat.

Have a good one!

moon likes! (also is glad it signifies only 90 days of winter will be left, "the cold hurts creaky bones" in simple terms, LOL)

Teo del Fuego wrote:

"thanks for the heads up! I used to be a fan of Jack Horkheimer and Star Gazer...to bad about his passing this summer."

very glad to see some warm hearts are sticking around!

[Isotopia]

I'm actually a bit curious about this. I'm flying out of SFO in the late evening just before it starts and heading to the east coast. I wonder if there's a likelihood of witnessing a prolonged eclipse through the window seat that I have.

[maryanimal]

I love the soltices! And the equinoxes. My four favorite times of the year!

[ygmir]

I'm actually a bit curious about this. I'm flying out of SFO in the late evening just before it starts and heading to the east coast. I wonder if there's a likelihood of witnessing a prolonged eclipse through the window seat that I have.

wouldn't you be going the wrong direction for that?

[burner von braun]

Hmm... good question iso. My inclination is to think that your flight will make no difference. Unlike a total solar eclipse which has a very defined path of totality on the surface of the earth which you can attempt to fly within (not sure of the speed but I think it is very fast), I think perhaps a lunar eclipse is what it is, and it does it's thing regardless of your relative position. The factors in this case are simply what time zone you live in so you can set your alarm so to speak, and if your position on the earth is pointed toward the moon at that time.

Unlike my namesake however, I might be inaccurate on this.

[ygmir]

seems, if you were flying east to west, fast enough, you'd "hover" relative, to the moon/sky, wouldn't you?
Flying west to east, seems your ground speed would be added to the rotational speed of the earth, as relates to the "heavens", taking you past celestial objects faster?

*it's very possible, I'm upside down on this one*

[burner von braun]

I think your directional logic is correct yg, if you fly fast enough from east to west the sun never sets from your standpoint.

[ygmir]

and, as you say, the moon is a different orbit sort of thing, but, it would seem, if you could "hover", you'd stay oriented to the moon longer, in the same position.

*grabs head to stop explosion*
*checking for duct tape*

[ygmir]

here's something else I just got:

Name of forecaster: Charles Deehr

Time of prediction: 12/15/2010 11:21:00 AM*
Forecast:Auroral activity will be active. Weather permitting, active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Barrow to Anchorage and Juneau, and visible low on the horizon from King Salmon and Prince Rupert.
Additional Forecaster comments: A solar event occurred on Dec 14th that may produce auroral displays greater than our auroral forecast index 4, sometime after midnight (0836 Greenwich time) on the 16th of Dec. This means the shock may reach Earth sometime around midnight on Dec 15 in North America. Depending on the character of the disturbance following the shock, viewing may be good on the night of the 16th and 17th.
Auroral Index 4 means Kp=4: Auroral activity will be active. Weather permitting, active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Inuvik, Yellowknife, Rankin and Igaluit to Juneau, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Sept-Iles, and visible low on the horizon from Vancouver, Great Falls, Pierre, Madison, Lansing, Ottawa, Portland and St. Johns for North America.
This is the description of the event:
Time: 2010 12 14 1503 UT
Location: N16W55
Shock velocity: Vs = 1000 km/sec
Duration: Tau = 4 hr.
Solar Wind velocity: Vsw = 625 km/sec
Our model predicts the following:
Mach 4.3 shock will reach Earth 2010 12 16 0836Z
Total propagation time 41h 33m

[burner von braun]

rats, had my post ready to go and deleted it
*reaches for bifilament tape left over from yurt*

The act of the moon not receiving direct sunlight, think of it like a movie, if you can see the screen, you can watch the movie no matter what angle you are. The eclipse will last about three or four hours, with totality being about an hour in the middle of that timeframe. If you live too far east, then you will begin to rotate too far around the corner (limb of the earth) and won't be able to see the ending of the show (the moon sets). That is when flying west would help, you would get to watch the rest of the show.

Very different from a total solar eclipse in this regard, where your ability to fly within the path of totality at just the right spot (total eclipse) can prolong the experience as long as you can keep up, you hover in a relative way by flying along with it. Those paths occur at odd angled curves across the earth though probably because of tilts in orbits, or axis, or the earth being a sphere or something.

[burner von braun]

Oooo.. I had the good fortune to see the aurora b. a few years ago all of the way down here. Nothing like what it must be like for our northern friends though.

It is special.

[ygmir]

Oooo.. I had the good fortune to see the aurora b. a few years ago all of the way down here. Nothing like what it must be like for our northern friends though.

It is special.

yeah, I saw a "once in a decade" display when I was visiting northern Finland some years ago. Been obsessed with it ever since.
It was, in a sense, life changing.......well, for a northern Pagan, anyway.........

spelling edit.

[Simon of the Playa]

the last one i saw was in 1996, the summer of my first burn.


everything comes full circle, pun intended.

[burner von braun]

TdF, I guess I mostly missed out on "Star Gazer", sorry to hear that. oh, and thanks.

Yg, it sounds like you had an amazing experience seeing the aurora. The time we saw it you could see red patches and a couple of times overhead white wispy streaks with moving vortices at each end, as well as a consistent greenish-white glow on the horizon due north. I can only imagine what you may have seen. Bands of color, or curtain wall effects maybe? I'd like to hear more about it sometime.

I like trying to get a handle on the science behind this stuff, ...but I still 'howl' at the moon from time to time.

[Thecatman]

I'm actually a bit curious about this. I'm flying out of SFO in the late evening just before it starts and heading to the east coast. I wonder if there's a likelihood of witnessing a prolonged eclipse through the window seat that I have.

If you're sitting on the starboard (right) side of the plane, you might see some of it, and be about 6 miles or so closer.

[ygmir]

TdF, I guess I mostly missed out on "Star Gazer", sorry to hear that. oh, and thanks.

Yg, it sounds like you had an amazing experience seeing the aurora. The time we saw it you could see red patches and a couple of times overhead white wispy streaks with moving vortices at each end, as well as a consistent greenish-white glow on the horizon due north. I can only imagine what you may have seen. Bands of color, or curtain wall effects maybe? I'd like to hear more about it sometime.

I like trying to get a handle on the science behind this stuff, ...but I still 'howl' at the moon from time to time.

yeah, It was incredible........Saw virtually all phenomena associated with aurora, in one night!
Others were screaming and all......
On the arctic circle, in Finland......laying in the dirt by a river, almost crying it was so awesome.
When it began, I was so awe struck, I just got down on the ground, so I could lay there and watch the whole sky.

Curtains,Pulses, "Amoeba", vortices, Red, Green, Violet, instant horizon, to horizong "off and on", like a switch.
I swear, it even made a noise.........They say it doesn't, but, others have reported it, too.

I wrote about it, in one of my travel logs.
If you want, PM me and I'll see if I can find it.