

The full lunar eclipse on Wednesday night, Feb. 20 – the last visible here for almost three years – will happen at a perfect time for viewing in most of the United States. Assuming the weather cooperates.

On the West Coast, partial eclipse will begin about 5:45 pm, just as the moon is rising. The full eclipse will begin at about 7:00 pm and last nearly an hour. Partial eclipse will end again a few minutes after nine o'clock.

Adjust those times for the same moment in different time zones – three hours later on the East Coast, eight hours later in Britain, for example. Unlike solar eclipses, for which the best observation point travels as the relative positions of the moon and Earth change, a lunar eclipse is visible to everyone on the moon-facing side of the Earth at the same time.



Sky and Telescope has a good article outlining precisely what happens during a lunar eclipse, including an explanation of why the moon glows slightly red during the total eclipse. Essentially, the red and orange light of sunrises and sunsets bend through the atmosphere at the edge of the globe (as seen from the moon), sending a ruddy glow to illuminate the darkened lunar surface.

North and South America, and Western Europe and Africa all will have good views of this eclipse. The next full eclipse won't happen until late December, 2010.

February 20th's Eclipse of the Moon [Sky and Telescope]

(Image one. An eclipse begins. Credit: Sky & Telescope / Gary

Seronik. Image two: The best viewing spots for this Wednesday's eclipse: Credit: Sky & Telescope / Gregg Dinderman)