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Telescopes Readied for Lunar Eclipse
Joseph Mast, director of the M.T. Brackbill Planetarium at Eastern Mennonite University, will host a viewing of the next lunar eclipse Oct. 27.
Photo By Allen Litten
By Jeff Mellott
As celestial events go, a lunar eclipse does not draw the same attention as comets streaking through the night sky.
"Comets draw the most interest because they are the rarest," said M.T. Brackbill Planetarium director Joseph Mast at Eastern Mennonite University.
But as celestial events go, a lunar eclipse still interests stargazers. In the past, a lunar eclipse such as the one coming next week could draw 50 people to EMU’s observatory behind the campus center, said Mast. "We’ll set telescopes out, if it is a nice evening," he said.
Plans for viewing the eclipse at James Madison University are pending.
Moon Bright
The next lunar eclipse is expected to begin at 9:14 p.m. Oct. 27. It will take about 15 minutes for viewers to see a discernible difference as the Earth temporarily casts its shadow on the moon.
The total eclipse, Mast said, is expected at 10:23 p.m. and should last until 11:44 p.m. The moon will be in partial eclipse for about 70 minutes on either side of the darkening of the moon, he said.
Eclipses happen about once or twice a year. The eclipse is visible to only half the Earth. The weather will have a great deal to do with whether the eclipse can be viewed.
Mast recalled mixed results last year.
"The one in May was rained out," Mast said, "and the one in October was gorgeous. This year, this is the only one."
Comet Fever
Still, the attendance is not expected to be anything like Halley’s Comet in 1986. Hundreds came to the observatory for the potentially once-in-a-lifetime event, Mast said.
It was disappointing compared to the reports of the comet’s pass 76 years earlier. "Everybody thought that was going to happen again, but it didn’t because we were on the other side of the comet from the sun," he said.
Mast is not expecting another spectacular Haley’s Comet visit like the one in 1910 until 2138.
Open Invitation
A member of the Shenandoah Valley Stargazers, Mast keeps up with the other smaller events. Two dozen people showed up to see Venus in front of the sun, he said.
"There are no planets out now. They are all in the morning," he said.
But a lunar eclipse is a favorite of some. They don’t need an invitation.
"They see it, and they come," Mast said.
