Americas get front-row seat for lunar eclipse


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CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) ? North and South America, get ready for the first eclipse of the year? in color.

Next Tuesday morning, the moon will be eclipsed by Earth's shadow. This total lunar eclipse will be visible across the Western Hemisphere. The total phase will last 78 minutes, beginning at 3:06 a.m. EDT and ending at 4:24 a.m. EDT.

The moon will be rising in the western Pacific, and so only the last half of the eclipse will be visible there. In much of Europe and Africa, the moon will be setting, so there won't be much, if anything, to see.

Even though the moon is in the Earth's shadow, it should appear a bit colorful, some shade of red or orange. That's from light around the edges of the Earth ? essentially sunrises and sunsets ? splashing on the lunar surface and faintly lighting up the moon, said Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.

 

In all, four eclipses will occur this year, two lunar and two solar.

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I waited up until 2 in the morning only to go out and find it so cloudy I couldn't even see the moon. Oh well, maybe in October.

 

Also I can't believe it is snowing today; the Easter Bunny is going to need a snow shovel this year.

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It was perfectly clear here in northern Colorado, and I could see the moon from our dining room window. So I stayed up until 1am mountain time to see how it looked. I suppose with a pair of binoculars or a telescope it would have been more dramatic, but with the naked eye it was... what's the word you youngsters use... meh.

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