MOONSTRUCK : LOCAL STARGAZERS FOCUS ON LUNAR ECLIPSE.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer It's their shared love of the night sky that draws them together - a firefighter, a few doctors, some scientists, homemakers and even a horse trainer In horse racing, a trainer is responsible for preparing a horse for races. As such, he takes responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter. . Melanie Bruno is a draftsman and a member of this group of amateur astronomers who share a passion for a moonless night when the stars are their brightest. Tonight, though, the moon will be the star of the show, and Bruno and other members of The Local Group astronomy club plan to be in the audience for the last full lunar eclipse of the century. ``I'm very excited,'' Bruno said Wednesday. ``I'm going to put my telescope on the sidewalk and just grab whoever comes by to take a look.'' About 6:45 p.m. the moon rise and sunset will be simultaneous, and earthlings will witness the last such eclipse until 2000. The eclipse will occur as the Earth casts its shadow onto the full moon, lasting until about 8:30 p.m. The moon could turn a deep red, illuminated only by the sunlight bent by the Earth's atmosphere “Air” redirects here. For other uses, see Air (disambiguation). Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth's gravity. It contains roughly (by molar content/volume) 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0. into the center of its own shadow. That reasonably simple explanation comes from Richard Wade Coach Richard Wade followed long-time coach and father, Dewey Wade, into a Canadian Football League career path. The former Kansas State Wildcat and San Francisco 49er held coaching assignments at the University of Buffalo, University of Maryland, Kansas State University and Utah of Valencia, a chemical dependency chemical dependency n. A physical and psychological habituation to a mood- or mind-altering drug, such as alcohol or cocaine. chemical dependency counselor for Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. - and a stargazer stargazer, common name for any of several species of marine fishes of the family Uranoscopidae, found in southern waters, and having the mouth, nostrils, and eyes set high in the head. Stargazers lie buried in the sand, waiting for their prey of small crustaceans. . He and some other weekend astronomers will gather with their telescopes at sunset in Valencia's Central Valley Park for the show. An added bonus will be the ringed planet Saturn's close proximity to the moon, he said. ``It'll be really nice to look at,'' said Wade, program chairman for The Local Group. Laverne Booth - the horse trainer in the club - explains that unlike a solar eclipse, you can watch the lunar phenomenon with the naked eye or with the aid of binoculars. A telescope isn't a must, she said, because looking at the moon, unlike the sun, will not damage the eyes. But for Bruno, the only way to scan the heavens is through the eyepiece Eyepiece A lens or optical system which offers to the eye the image originating from another system (the objective), at a suitable viewing distance. The image can be virtual. on her telescope. A stargazer as a child growing up in New Jersey, Bruno bought her scope in 1986, eager for the only chance in her lifetime to glimpse Halley's Comet Halley's comet or Comet Halley (hăl`ē, hā`lē), periodic comet named for Edmond Halley, who observed it in 1682 and identified it as the one observed in 1531 and 1607. . ``I remember being young and going outside and looking up at the sky and seeing the constellations and the moon - in New Jersey there wasn't as much light pollution, but it's pretty cloudy. But when it was clear, it was beautiful.'' It took Bruno a while to learn how to use her telescope, and she wouldn't have succeeded without the help of her friends in The Local Group. ``The telescope and I - we weren't friends for a while,'' she said. ``Joining The Local Group was the best thing I ever did. I went to star parties. I asked a lot of questions. ``There are a lot of people out here who know a lot about how to find things in the sky.'' What she's learned has been exhilarating. ``When I'm at the telescope and I train it on something and it's right there in my eyepiece - for instance Saturn - it's a great thrill. It compares to becoming a mother, seeing something like that for the first time.'' And her neighbors love it when she passes on her knowledge of the skies. ``If they haven't seen anything through a telescope, they're very grateful when I share it with them,'' she said. ``Once you know how to find things you just want to share the sky with everybody.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color in Verb 1. color in - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" color, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour AV only) Melanie Bruno, a draftsman by day , will be turning her gaze skyward sky·ward adv. & adj. At or toward the sky. sky  wards adv. when she and fellow astronomers watch the lunar eclipse tonight. Tom Mendoza/Daily News |
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