Hunter's moon (Earth, blood, science)

[michel]

http://spaceweather.com/



ECLIPSE OF THE HUNTER'S MOON: According to folklore, October's full moon is called the "Hunter's Moon" or sometimes the "Blood Moon." It gets its name from hunters who tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the winter ahead. The Hunter's Moon of 2005 is due on Oct. 17th. Creatures of the forest, beware!

Eclipse alert: If you live on the Pacific side of Earth (map), you can see a partial eclipse of the Hunter's Moon. (continued below)


Lunar eclipse animation, credit Larry Koehn.

The best time to look is Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. PDT (Oct. 17, 1200 UT) when the edge of the Moon dips into the darkest part of Earth's shadow. Only a little bit of the Moon will be shaded. A casual observer might not notice the eclipse; but if you know what to look for, you'll definitely see it. [More]

EXPANDING PLANET: The incredible expanding planet ... is Mars. Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter at the end of October, and that means Mars is getting bigger and brighter with each passing night. To illustrate the change, Joel Warren of Amarillo, Texas, assembled 24 pictures he's taken of Mars between June 23rd and October 8th:





He used an 8-inch telescope and a digital camera to capture all these images. They show not only the changing size of Mars, but also its changing phase: from gibbous to full.

Would you like to see Mars? It rises in the east around 8:00 p.m., and by 9:00 p.m. it's above local trees and houses for most people. Mars is brighter than any star, so you can't miss it. Sky maps: Oct. 16, 17, 18.

See http://www.shadowandsubstance.com/ for more interesting pics.

[john313]

cool thread. i just asked a friend last night when the full moon is supposed to be this month, now i have the answer