HEAVENLY SITE EXPECTED TONIGHT.Byline: Dennis Love Daily News Staff Writer The 900,000-mile-long shadow cast by the planet Earth will temporarily envelop en·vel·op tr.v. en·vel·oped, en·vel·op·ing, en·vel·ops 1. To enclose or encase completely with or as if with a covering: "Accompanying the darkness, a stillness envelops the city" this evening's harvest moon harvest moon, full moon occurring nearest to the autumnal equinox, about Sept. 23. During harvest moon the retardation (later rising each night) of the moon is at a minimum because of the relation of the moon's path to the horizon. , providing the last total lunar eclipse visible in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area until the year 2000. The moon will rise, already partially eclipsed, on the eastern horizon at 6:37 p.m. and will become totally eclipsed at 7:19 p.m. Best viewing should be around 8 p.m., with totality of the eclipse ending at 8:29 p.m. ``This is a great opportunity to view an eclipse because it's at a very convenient time, especially for children,'' said John Mosley, program director at the Griffith Observatory Griffith Observatory is located in Los Angeles, California, United States. Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the . ``You don't have to stay up all night. You don't need any equipment or have to travel anywhere. You just need to be upstairs or anywhere you have a clear view of the eastern horizon.'' Generally clear skies Clear Skies could refer to:
The Griffith Observatory will be among several locations hosting viewing parties, Mosley said. At the observatory, about 35 telescopes will be available, provided by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society There are numerous groups devoted to promoting astronomy research and education. See, for example:
Adding to the novelty of the lunar event will be the color of the moon, expected to turn into a deep red as it passes into the Earth's shadow. Also brightly visible will be Saturn, about two degrees to the lower right of the moon. The last total lunar eclipse visible from Southern California was Nov. 28, 1993. While eclipses aren't the scientifically dramatic events they once were, they still provide an opportunity to contemplate how the Earth, its moon and the sun all relate to each other, according to Jonathon Hodge, director of the Santa Monica College Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is 32,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The college also has one of the largest international student populations of any community college in the US, with approximately Planetarium planetarium, optical device used to project a representation of the heavens onto a domed ceiling; the term also designates the building that houses such a device. A modern planetarium consists of as many as 150 motor-driven projectors mounted on an axis. . ``Historically, eclipses were the first evidence that convinced the Greek philosophers (around 400 B.C.) that the Earth was round,'' Hodge said. ``The shape of the shadow the Earth cast on the moon left no other explanation.'' The notion that astronomers in Christopher Columbus' day believed the Earth to be flat ``is a modern myth,'' Hodge said, since eclipses and other scientific evidence by then clearly indicated otherwise. CAPTION(S): drawing DRAWING: LUNAR ECLIPSE |
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