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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (1413)	1/16/2000 8:17:00 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 12231

Shadowing a Lunar Eclipse Safe and Easy to Watch Earth will not only cast a shadow on the moon, but its atmosphere will bend some light onto the moon, turning it red. (ABCNEWS.com) By Kenneth Chang ABCNEWS.com Jan. 16 ? This Thursday night, the full moon dims to red. The ancient Maya said it was a giant jaguar devouring the moon, after which it would descend to Earth and eat its fill of people, too. For you, it?s a benign, beautiful consequence of solar system mechanics ? the Earth?s shadow crossing the moon, a lunar eclipse. ?That?s all an eclipse is,? says Yale University astronomy professor Bradley Schaefer. ?It?s a shadow.? Visible across North America, the lunar eclipse ? unlike a couple of other recent ballyhooed celestial events ? is easy to observe and guaranteed to be an impressive sight, barring clouds, of course. A Change From TV The show begins at 10:01 p.m. ET when the moon begins to pass into the dark portion of Earth?s shadow and continues until 1:25 a.m. ET when it emerges. The moon is fully covered by the Earth?s shadow from 11:05 p.m. to 12:22 a.m. It?s also a chance for you to make a few scientific observations of your own. First, a quick refresher course on eclipses: for those confused about solar vs. lunar, the difference is simply the order that the sun, Earth and moon line up. Solar eclipse: Sun ? moon ? Earth. That?s when the sun is blotted out by the moon during daytime. That?s not what?s happening Thursday. Lunar eclipse: Sun ? Earth ? moon. Earth?s shadow crosses the moon. A full moon occurs when the moon is on the far side of the Earth where you can see the entire region that?s illuminated by the sun, and that?s the only time when the Earth?s shadow can fall on it. Something for Everyone Unlike a solar eclipse, when the experts ominously warn you that careless viewing can injure your eyes, the instructions for observing a lunar eclipse consist of two steps: 1. Go outside. 2. Look up. ?This requires nothing special,? Schaefer says. ?Anyone can do it.? No equipment. No danger of hurting your eyes. Timing of Lunar Eclipse Moon starts to enter dark part of Earth's shadow: 10:01 p.m. ET Moon completely shadowed: 11:05 p.m. Moon starts to exit Earth's shadow: 12:22 a.m. Eclipse ends: 1:25 a.m. Lunar eclipses are even simpler to watch than meteor showers, when you need to find a very dark place to spot the streaks of light shooting across the sky. And meteors can be fickle, as most people standing in the cold searching for the Leonid meteors in the North American skies this past November found out. (In other parts of the world, the Leonids were indeed spectacular, as in Tunisia, where Schaefer watched.) An Urban View, Too The moon ? and the eclipse ? can be easily seen even in the brightest part of a city. When the moon is partially eclipsed, you?ll notice the shape of the shadow is a curved arc. That?s because of the shape of what?s making the shadow. ?This is a quick proof the Earth is spherical,? Schaefer says. By comparing the curvature of the shadow with the curvature of the moon?s outline, you can estimate the relative sizes of the moon and Earth. (The answer you should find: Earth is about three times the width of the moon.) When the moon is completely shadowed, it?s expected to turn to a bright brick red in color, for the same reason that sunsets are red. Even though Earth is blocking the direct path of sunlight to the moon, Earth?s atmosphere bends some of the light around to the moon, like a lens. The atmosphere tends to reflect blue light more than red light (which is why the sky is blue), so the remaining light that makes it to the moon?s surface and bounces back to Earth is reddish. A Global Sunset ?You?re seeing all the world?s sunsets and all the world?s sunrises simultaneously,? Schaefer says. The exact color depends on what?s in the upper atmosphere ? or not. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 filled the upper atmosphere with tiny droplets that bounced away more light than usual, and during the lunar eclipses that followed, the darkened moon was hardly visible at all. Since there haven?t been any major volcanic eruptions recently, this Thursday?s lunar eclipse should be fairly bright. Just go outside and look.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (1413)	1/17/2000 6:59:00 PM
From: pheilman_	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12231

And this is a cross thread Response to #62654 from the unwashed thread The America's Cup shall be returned to it's eponymic home. With America One from the St. Francis Yacht Club in the lead to challenge the new arena could be the finest ever for unlimited racing. The fierce winds, raging tides and huge natural viewing area of the SF Bay would be grand for kevlar to meet kevlar. Late apologies for the San Diego unpleasantness, 12 meters are supposed to break, otherwise they haven't been built to the edge. Conditions are so pathetic down there, they will rent anyone a sailboat, even me! Keeps the engineers working at Q so it's OK. Enjoy the spectacle Maurice. You lucky dog.