A Rusty Brown Moon Rises in March

 

 

   The Full Moon will lack its brilliance when it rises in March this year.  Instead of its normally bright white luster it will display a rusty brown face as it rises into view on March 3.

 

   It has been awhile since there was a total eclipse of the moon seen from Thunder Bay.  The last total lunar eclipse on October 27, 2004 was clouded out.  (We were one of the few places in the country that got clouded out that evening – it figures!)  The year 2003 produced two total lunar eclipses (May 15 and November 8).  That year the skies were clear for BOTH events!

 

   Celestial geometry this year is such that the Full Moon of March will rise totally eclipsed as seen from Thunder Bay.  An eclipse of the moon occurs when the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow.

 

   The eclipse begins before moonrise at 3:15 p.m. EST.  The moon will rise over the eastern horizon in Thunder Bay on March 3 at 6:40 p.m. EST.  The moon will remain within the Earth’s dark inner shadow (the umbra), totally eclipsed, for 18 minutes.  As sunlight passes through our atmosphere the shorter wavelengths (blues) are scattered out leaving the longer wavelengths of light (reds and oranges).  The reds and oranges are refracted (bent) into the Earth’s shadow cone on to the lunar surface.  This is what produces the spectacular colours of the moon during a total lunar eclipse.

 

   The lunar disc will begin to move out of the umbral shadow at 6:58 p.m. EST into the Earth’s brighter outer shadow (the penumbra).  At this time a bright sliver of light will be seen in the lower left side of the moon.  Over the next 1 hour and 14 minutes more and more of the moon will brighten as it moves out of the dark inner shadow.  By 8:12 p.m. EST the moon will have moved completely into the penumbral shadow.  You may see a slight grayish colour on the lunar surface at this point.  It will take another 1 hour and 14 minutes for the moon to exit the Earth’s penumbra.  At this time (9:26 p.m. EST) the lunar eclipse will come to an end.

 

   The weather patterns for March are quite variable as we move towards the spring season.  Over the past 22 years we have had eight clear/mainly clear and 14 cloudy/mostly cloudy evenings on March 3.  Statistically that gives us about a 36% chance of viewing the moon that day.  (I still go by the adage: Climate is what you want – Weather is what you get!)  As an optimist I am going for the 36% statistic.

 

   The next lunar eclipse visible from our area will be August 28, 2007 and it will be total.

 

   Venus, with its unmistakable white brilliance, can be seen after sunset around 20 degrees above the western horizon.  As the month of March goes on Venus will be seen higher and higher in the sky after sundown as the planet moves along the steeply inclined ecliptic plane.

 

   Saturn’s yellow glow is easily identified above the eastern horizon after the sun has set. Just past opposition the Ringed Planet remains visible nearly all night long.  March will be a prime time to view Saturn and its moons as it is well up in the dark nighttime sky this month.

 

   Jupiter can be seen low in the south before sunrise as a bright yellow “star”.  The reddish star about ten degrees to the right of Jupiter is Antares (a red supergiant star) in the constellation of Scorpius.

 

   In past years we have moved from Eastern Standard Time (EST) to Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on the first weekend of April.  This year we “spring forward” from EST to EDT three weeks early on March 11.

 

   The vernal equinox occurs on March 21 at 8:07 p.m. EDT.  This marks the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.  For those in the southern hemisphere the summer has ended and the autumn season commences.

 

   If weather permits, amateur astronomers from the Thunder Bay Centre of the Astronomy Society invite all interested observers to observe the eclipse of the moon on March 3.  Moonrise is 6:40 p.m. EST so we will be meeting at Hillcrest Park around 6:00 p.m. EST to prepare for the event.

 

 

Clear Skies

Ted Bronson