Total Lunar Eclipse Viewing Party at Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum will be toasting the August 27, 2007 total lunar eclipse with a Lunar Viewing Party and the public is invited to jo in in. From 9:30 p.m. August 27 through 1:30 a.m. the following morning, telescopes will pointed the moon’s way and volunteers from the Hawaiian Astronomical Society will be on hand to assist. Admission is $3 per person.
“Such a rare astronomical event is worth celebrating and letting your kids stay up late to see for themselves,” says Carolyn Kaichi , manager of the J. Watumull Planetarium. “We’ll have several telescopes on the Great Lawn for viewing this spectacular moon phase event.”
Several guest lecturers from the University of Hawai‘i Astronomy Department will be present to talk about the moon and some of the past, present and future research surrounding it in the J. Watumull Planetarium and Science on a Sphere beginning at 9:30 p.m.
The lunar eclipse begins with the partial phase at 10:50 p.m. and moves into the total phase at 11:52 p.m. before it ends around 1:25 a.m. A lunar eclipse can only occur at Full Moon and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. When an eclipse of the Moon takes place, everyone on the night side of the can see it. Total eclipses are beautiful events to behold. This event is occurring for the first time in three years.
The Moon’s appearance darkens into an eerie copper color as light from the sun is filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere and indirectly reaches the moon. If the Earth had no atmosphere, the moon would be totally dark during an eclipse. The last time Hawai‘i experienced a total lunar eclipse was in 2003, however it was in the last stages at moonrise while the sky was still relatively light. This year’s eclipse will take place when the sky is completely dark and the moon is almost directly overhead.
The doors to the Lunar Viewing Party open at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $3 per person. Parking in the Bishop Museum parking lot is free. For more information about Lunar Viewing Party, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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