Total Lunar Eclipse tomorrow night

A total lunar eclipse will be visible in Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow, Saturday November 8, and the Trinidad and Tobago Astronomical Society is holding a limited numbers public viewing session in the Sir Frank Stockdale Building, UWI beginning at 7 pm.

The first contact of the Moon with the outer part of the Earth’s shadow, the penumbral eclipse when little change is noticed, will occur at 6.15 pm and the partial eclipse when the Moon enters the umbra of the shadow will occur at 7.32 pm. The total lunar eclipse, when the Moon is wholly inside Earth’s shadow, begins at 9.06 pm. The Moon passes through the southern region of the Earth’s shadow on November 8 and it is inside the shadow for only 25 minutes (as against 52 minutes during the lunar eclipse of May 15-16 when the Moon was near perigee).

On this occasion the Moon is near apogee, its furthest point in orbit, and it will look smaller but, because of its position in umbra, it should also look brighter than it did in May. To help with observatory funds, the Astronomical Society is requesting a donation of $20 per person (children half price) from interested viewers. The session will include both an illustrated talk on the Moon and rooftop viewing through telescopes and binoculars. The talk will demonstrate how lunar eclipses occur and it will include details of the craters touched by the moving shadow. A view of the hidden side of the Moon, shown on a rotating image of our satellite, will demonstrate the great difference between its visible and hidden surfaces, which only became visible when they were photographed by orbiting spacecraft.