Sunday 02-12-2018 - 12:08

Welcome back, we hope you had a good Christmas break!

This month we have a fair amount in store for Astronomy, including our main event: A Total Lunar Eclipse.  

On Monday 21st January at 2:36am, the Moon first enters the Earth's shadow, known as the Penumbra. It will progressively become more and more in shadow as the Sun's light cannot reach Moon. As it enters the darkest region of shadow, known as the Umbra, the Moon will start to appear blood red. The entire Moon will be this colour around 5am. This is because red light emitted by the Sun is bent round the Earth through our atmosphere and onto the Moon. As it progresses on, it becomes less red, before leaving Earth's shadow, the eclipse ending at around 7.50am. This is a fairly rare event, and should the weather favour us, we will be staying out all night to view this eclipse, photograph it and view it through a telescope. We really hope the weather favours us - the last eclipse was in July 2018, but the next one won't be until 2022!

We will be at the benches by the sports fields - go down the path opposite the Sports Hall from around 2.30am. Please show your interest on our Facebook event page -of course, this is assuming the skies are clear. We will notify to confirm our presence on our Facebook page and Twitter by 10pm on Sunday. Throughout the night we will also be attempting observations of other objects in the sky.

Alternatively, you can always spot the Lunar Eclipse yourself. All you need is a clear view of the southwest and western skies, with little obstruction from buildings and trees, and somewhere to sit. Literally just look at the Moon for a few hours!

Regardless of whether you decide to come along with us or go somewhere yourself, please do wrap up warm, bring blankets, hot drinks in flasks etc. - it's the middle of Winter in the middle of the night - it's going to be cold!