There will be a total lunar eclipse this Saturday. You can observe it directly near your home.
A red moon will appear in the night sky this Saturday. If the weather is clear, citizens can see this rare beauty just by looking up due east and south. Astronomy experts said that this time, the entire lunar eclipse can be seen throughout the country, making it the best total lunar eclipse in China since January 10, 2001. By then, the Beijing Planetarium is expected to open its astronomical telescope. Lunar eclipses always occur when "looking" Li Xin, an astronomy expert at the Beijing Planetarium, said that a lunar eclipse is a phenomenon in which the moon enters the shadow area produced by the earth blocking sunlight, causing the brightness of the moon's surface to change. Similar to a solar eclipse, during a lunar eclipse, the sun, earth, and moon are almost in the same straight line, but the difference is that the one in the middle becomes the earth. When a lunar eclipse occurs, the ecliptic longitudes of the sun and the moon will differ by 180 degrees, so the lunar eclipse must occur at the "look" time of the moon phase, that is, around the 15th day of the lunar calendar. This lunar eclipse is rare. Compared with lunar eclipses and solar eclipses, which celestial phenomenon is more rare? Li Xin said that the ratio of solar eclipses to lunar eclipses is about 4:3. There will be at least two solar eclipses in a year, but there may not be a lunar eclipse. It is not easy to catch a total lunar eclipse in which the entire process is visible and the moon is high above the horizon. This total lunar eclipse that occurred on the night of December 10 is such a rare total lunar eclipse. Remember the key time points of the lunar eclipse. There are several key time points for the total lunar eclipse on December 10, namely the "beginning of the penumbral lunar eclipse" at 19:33; the "initial loss" at 20:45; "Eclipse begins" at 22:06; "light emerges" at 22:57; "returns to full circle" at 0:17 on the 11th; and "penumbral lunar eclipse ends" at 1:30 on the 11th. Since the total lunar eclipse is relatively small, this means that the moon will "leave" soon after it completely enters the Earth's umbral shadow, and the total eclipse can only last for 50 minutes. Therefore, you must seize the time when observing. For ordinary citizens, when observing this total lunar eclipse, they can choose to observe the stage from "first waning" to "re-circling". At that time, the moon rises from about 10 degrees due east-south from the horizon. As it gets closer to the position of the earth's shadow, the originally round moon first has a missing corner in the lower left corner, and slowly the entire moon surface turns red. About 50 minutes later, the lower right corner of the moon begins to light up, and a small crescent appears. The crescent becomes fatter and fatter, and finally the moon returns to its previous appearance. When a total lunar eclipse occurs, the normally bright moon will have a blush on its face as if it is drunk. Li Xin explained that the moon itself does not emit light. We usually see it because it reflects sunlight. During a total lunar eclipse, the moon is completely within the earth's umbra. At this time, the earth's atmosphere will refract some light to the moon's surface. Among visible lights, red light has a longer wavelength, so it is mainly red light that is ultimately refracted by the atmosphere and reaches the lunar surface. Observing the total lunar eclipse Although the Beijing Planetarium may open its telescope on the night of the 10th, Li Xin said that citizens can directly observe the moon from places near their homes, and can also take a few photos of the total lunar eclipse.
