On Monday, August 7, in Russia, with the exception of Chukotka and Kamchatka, it will be possible to observe a partial lunar eclipse. In Moscow, the phenomenon will be seen from 20:24 to 22:19. About what this rare astronomical phenomenon is, how it can affect human body, and also where it is best to observe it - in the RT material.
On the evening of August 7, Russians will be able to observe a partial lunar eclipse. At 20:00 Moscow time, the Earth's satellite will rise above the horizon, being in the penumbra of the planet, and in the period from 20:24 to 22:19 Moscow time, the Moon will pass through the northern part of the planet's shadow and plunge into the Earth's shadow. The maximum phase of the eclipse will occur at 21:20. The moon will plunge into the shadow of the Earth with its southern edge by 0.25 lunar diameter.
« Moon eclipse can be observed from almost anywhere the globe. The only limitation is daylight, it will interfere. That is, almost the entire night side of the Earth can observe a partial lunar eclipse, ”Academician Anatoly Cherepashchuk, director of the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute (GAISh) of Moscow State University, told RT.
Cherepashchuk emphasized that in Russia it is most profitable to observe the eclipse from its European part. In Chukotka and Kamchatka, they will let him through - there, at that time, morning will already come.
But residents of different parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia will also have the opportunity to see how part of the lunar disk will change color to burgundy red. It is because of this characteristic "staining" that this phenomenon is called the "blood moon".
“If we consider a total lunar eclipse, when the moon goes completely into the earth's shadow, and we are on the moon, we will see the earth framed by a red rim. It is the rays of the sun that refract through the atmosphere. The red color of the rim falls on the moon. Not always red, sometimes gray-brown,” says Nikolai Zheleznov, senior researcher at the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It will be possible to see the eclipse with the naked eye, but it is best to arm yourself with a telescope.
“You will just see a shadow on the Moon - such a semicircle from the Earth and some area of penumbra, inside the dark shadow there will be not black, but red,” Cherepashchuk explains.
Observation at the Moscow Planetarium will begin an hour before the maximum phase. If clear weather persists until the end of the day, an event dedicated to the eclipse will be held at the astronomical site - visitors will see the eclipse through telescopes, and also learn about the features of the phases of this event from specialists.
According to scientists, the ebb and flow during the lunar eclipse will be maximum, but people who do not have health problems will not be affected in any way.
Dark Moon
Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon enters the cone of shadow cast by the Earth. In some cases, the satellite may be completely obscured. In the case when the Moon enters the shadow of the Earth partially, we are talking about a partial eclipse. There is also a partial penumbral eclipse - then the satellite enters only into the penumbra of the planet. Penumbral eclipses are weak and can often only be seen in the middle, since the penumbral phases are inaccessible to the human eye.
“When the Earth, the Sun and the Moon are located approximately on the same straight line, the shadow of the Earth falls on the Moon, and we see a large part of the Earth. By the way, at the beginning of our era smart people It was said that since the Earth's shadow is round, the Earth also has a spherical shape. That is, you will directly see the confirmation round shape Earth," Cherepashchuk notes.
Lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year. This year, on February 11, the Russians have already observed a penumbral eclipse of the moon. Then the satellite plunged into the penumbra of the planet by 1.02 of its own diameter. In 2018, according to astronomers, two total shadow eclipses are expected - on January 31 and July 27. In 2019, there will also be two lunar eclipses, and in 2020 - as many as four (but all are penumbral).
There, high
On the night of August 12-13, another important astronomical event will take place: the stellar rain. It is expected that it will be possible to see up to a hundred meteors per hour - but, most likely, in the metropolis, the meteor shower will not be noticeable, and in order to look at it, you will have to get out of the city.
However, the most important event of the last month of summer, solar eclipse On August 21, the Russians will not be caught: his line of sight will pass through North America. Residents of Chukotka will be able to watch private phases.
Once, after during one of the expeditions of Christopher Columbus all food supplies and water on the ship came to an end, and attempts to negotiate with the Indians did not bring success, knowledge of the approaching lunar eclipse rendered the navigator a tremendous service.
He told the locals that if they did not send him food before evening, he would take away the night luminary from them. They only laughed in response, but when the moon began to darken and turned purple at night, they were simply horrified. Water and food supplies were immediately delivered to the ship, and the Indians on their knees asked Columbus to return the luminary to the sky. The navigator could not refuse their request - and a few minutes later the moon again shone in the sky.
A lunar eclipse can be seen on a full moon when its shadow falls on the Earth's satellite (for this, the planet must be between the Sun and the Moon). Since the night luminary is at least 363 thousand km from the Earth, and the diameter of the shadow cast by the planet is two and a half times the diameter of the satellite, when the Moon is covered by the Earth's shadow, it turns out to be completely darkened.
This does not always happen: sometimes the shadow partially covers the satellite, and sometimes it does not reach the shadow and ends up near its cone, in partial shade, when only a slight darkening of one of the edges of the satellite is noticeable. Therefore, in lunar calendars, the degree of obscuration is measured in values from 0 and Ф:
- Beginning and end of a partial (partial) eclipse period - 0;
- The beginning and end of the private phase - from 0.25 to 0.75;
- Beginning and end of the total eclipse period - 1;
- The period of the highest phase is 1.005.
Lunar nodes
One of the indispensable conditions necessary for the onset of a total lunar eclipse is the proximity of the Moon to the node (at this point the lunar orbit intersects with the ecliptic).
Since the orbital plane of the night star is inclined to the plane of the earth's orbit at an angle of five degrees, the satellite, crossing the ecliptic, moves towards the North Pole, reaching which it turns in the opposite direction and moves down to the South. The points where the satellite's orbit intersects with the points of the ecliptic are called the lunar nodes.
When the Moon is near a node, a total lunar eclipse can be seen (usually once every six months). It is interesting that the lunar nodes are uncharacteristic of a constant stay at one point of the ecliptic, since they are constantly shifting along the line of the constellations of the Zodiac against the course of the Sun and Moon, making one revolution in 18 years and 6 months. Therefore, it is best to determine when the next total lunar eclipse will be on the calendar. For example, if they were in November and May, then next year they will occur in October and April, then in September and March.
When the miraculous happens
If the orbit of the Moon coincided with the line of the ecliptic all the time, eclipses would take place every month and would be an absolutely common occurrence. Since the satellite is mostly above or below the earth's orbit, the shadow of our planet covers it two, maximum three times a year.
At this time, the new or full Moon is just near one of its nodes (within twelve degrees on either side), and the Sun, Earth and Moon are located on the same line. In this case, you can first see the eclipse of the Sun, and two weeks later, during the full phase of the Moon - the lunar one (these two types of eclipse always come in pairs).
It happens that a lunar eclipse does not occur at all: it happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon are not on the same line at the right time, and the earth's shadow either passes by the satellite or touches it with penumbra. True, the event is practically indistinguishable from the Earth, since the brightness of the satellite at this time decreases only slightly and can only be seen through telescopes (if the Moon, being in a penumbral eclipse, passes very close to the shadow cone, you can see a slight darkening on one side) . If the satellite is only partially in the shadow, a partial lunar eclipse occurs: part of the celestial body darkens, the other remains in partial shade and is illuminated by the rays of the Sun.
How does an eclipse happen?
Since the shadow of the Earth is much larger than the satellite, it sometimes takes a lot of time for the night luminary to pass it, so a total lunar eclipse can last either a very short period of time, about four to five minutes, or more than an hour (for example, the maximum recorded duration of the phase on the night of the lunar eclipse was 108 minutes).
The duration of this phenomenon will largely depend on the location of the three heavenly bodies to each other.
If you watch the moon from the northern hemisphere, you can see that the earth's penumbra covers the moon on the left side. Half an hour later, the satellite of our planet is completely in shadow - and on the night of the lunar eclipse, the luminary acquires a dark red or brown hue. The sun's rays illuminate the satellite even during total eclipse and, along a tangent line, pass relative to the earth's surface, dissipate in the atmosphere, reaching the night star.
Since red has the longest wavelength, it, unlike other colors, does not disappear and reaches the lunar surface, highlighting it in red, the shade of which largely depends on the state of the earth's atmosphere in this moment. The brightness of a satellite on the night of a lunar eclipse is determined by a special Danjon scale:
- 0 - total lunar eclipse, the satellite will be almost invisible;
- 1 - The moon is dark gray;
- 2 - earth satellite of gray-brown color;
- 3 - the moon is characterized by a reddish-brown hue;
- 4 - the satellite is copper-red in color, it is visible very clearly and all the details of the lunar surface are clearly distinguished.
If we compare photos that were taken on the night of a lunar eclipse in a different period, you can see that the color of the moon is different. For example, the Earth's satellite during the summer eclipse of 1982 was red, while in the winter of 2000 the Moon was brown.
History of the lunar calendar
People have long understood how important the Moon plays in the life of the planet, and therefore they planned all their activities, focusing on its phases (new moons, full moons, waning, eclipses), since they were the most observed celestial phenomena.
It is not surprising that the lunar calendar is considered the most ancient calendar in the world: it was according to it that people in the early stages of their development determined when to start and finish sowing work, observed the influence of the moon on the growth of vegetation, the ebb and flow of tides, and even how the night the luminary affects the human body, which, as you know, contains a large number of liquids.
It is impossible to determine which people first created the lunar calendar. The first items that were used as lunar calendars, were found in France and Germany and were created thirty thousand years ago. These were applied signs in the form of a crescent or winding lines on the walls of caves, stones or animal bones.
Lunar calendars were also found, created eighteen thousand years ago in Russia near the city of Achinsk in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. A calendar was also found in Scotland, whose age is at least ten thousand years.
The modern form of the lunar calendar was given by the Chinese, who already in the II millennium BC. formed the basic provisions, and used it until the XX century. Also an important role in the development of the lunar calendar belongs to the Hindus, who for the first time gave the basic descriptions of the phases, lunar days and the positions of the Moon relative to the Earth and the Sun.
The lunar calendar was replaced by the solar one, because during the formation of a settled way of life, it became obvious that agricultural work was still more tied to the seasons, that is, to the Sun. The lunar calendar turned out to be inconvenient due to the fact that the lunar month does not have a stable time and constantly shifts by 12 hours. At 34 solar years one extra lunar year falls.
Nevertheless, the moon had enough influence. For example, modern Gregorian calendar, adopted about five hundred years ago, contains such statements gleaned from lunar calendars as the number of days in a week and even the term "month".
What can be more unshakable from the point of view of common sense than the daily cycle of luminaries in the sky? The sun's disk, shining during the day, is replaced by the pale glow of the moon, and this happens every day for many years.
But one day a clear moon suddenly crawls dark shadow and absorbs it. Although the event lasts no longer than half an hour, after which the night star emerges from the darkness and shines again, as if nothing had happened, for those who know nothing about lunar eclipses, it can make a depressing impression.
In fact, there is nothing sinister or mystical about lunar eclipses, it is a common a natural phenomenon which is easy to explain even to schoolchildren lower grades.
How does a lunar eclipse happen?
As we know, the moon does not shine by itself. Its surface reflects the sun's rays, due to which there is this exquisite pale radiance, which poets love to sing about. , The Moon occasionally falls into the shadow cast by the Earth.
At these moments, a partial lunar eclipse occurs - the Earth's shadow can cover part of the lunar disk for several minutes. If the Moon completely enters the shadow of our planet, then we can observe a total lunar eclipse. 
From the surface of the Earth, the eclipse looks like a round shadow, gradually creeping onto the Moon and eventually absorbing the lunar disk. At the same time, the Moon does not disappear completely, but acquires a dark purple hue due to the refraction of the sun's rays. The shadow cast by the Earth is 2.5 times more area our satellite, so the moon can be completely covered by it. After several minutes of complete blackout, the lunar disk gradually emerges from the shadow.
Conditions necessary for an eclipse of the moon
In order for the Moon to be completely covered by the Earth's shadow, it is necessary that the Sun, Earth and our satellite are on the same straight line, and the Moon must be located behind the Earth. In those moments when this condition is met, but the Moon is in front of our planet, solar eclipses occur, not lunar eclipses. Unfortunately, the trajectories of the Earth and the Moon in their orbits are far from ideal, so they rarely line up in a straight line.
Within one year, no more than three lunar eclipses can occur, and all of them can only be partial. Moreover, even partial eclipses do not occur every year. Observations may be hindered by bad weather, or the eclipse is observed only on the opposite side of the moon. 
Full cycle lunar eclipse repeats every 18 years - this means that if the sky is not covered with clouds, every 18 years you can observe a total lunar eclipse.
By the way, the cyclicity of eclipses often helps historians to clarify the dates of certain events mentioned in the annals. Ancient chronicles necessarily noted each case of an eclipse of the Moon or the Sun. Since all of them are easily calculated by astronomers, the events that occurred at this time are easily tied to exact dates.
How can you see a lunar eclipse?
The opportunity to observe a lunar eclipse is not for everyone. Sometimes a person can live a lifetime, but never see the bewitching sight of the disappearing moon. But if you really want to observe this astronomical phenomenon with your own eyes, you just need to find the eclipse table in the astronomy guide or on one of the astronomical sites and select the next date when the lunar eclipse will be visible in the territory where you live. 
If you're lucky, and there will be good cloudless weather that night, nothing will prevent you from admiring the beautiful and slightly eerie spectacle of the “lunar absorption”.
A lunar eclipse is a natural phenomenon during which the moon enters the region of the earth's shadow. When the lunar eclipse comes the Moon with the Sun and the Earth should be located on the line at the same time. It turns out that the Moon is blocked from the Sun with the help of the Earth. This means that an eclipse is only possible on a full moon. At this time, you can see the Moon, which is completely or partially shaded from the Earth. It is possible to observe the eclipse from that part of our planet that is located above the horizon.
Partial lunar eclipse
The diameter of the earth's shadow is 2.5 times that of the moon, which is why the earth's shadow covers the entire disk of the moon. In a situation where this happens, the eclipse is total. If there is a partial immersion of the moon in the earth's shadow, then such an eclipse is considered partial.
In those situations where the line of the Moon with the Sun and the Earth is far from ideal, a variant is possible in which the eclipse phase does not occur. It is also possible that the earth's shadow will touch the edge of the lunar disk, it will be covered with penumbra.
The duration of the phases of any eclipse, partial or total, depends directly on the location of all 3 of the above celestial bodies. The longest duration of a lunar eclipse is 108 minutes. The brightness of the lunar disk during a total lunar eclipse also depends on the same reason. There are cases when the Moon is not visible at all, and it also happens that the Moon is so bright that observers do not even believe that a lunar eclipse has occurred.
The penumbra, which is present around the cone of the earth's shadow, can partially obscure the Sun. When the Moon begins to pass through this area, but has not entered the shadow, a penumbral eclipse occurs. The brightness of the moon becomes less, but not much. Such a decrease in brightness cannot be seen with the naked eye, only devices can fix this.
Even when the lunar eclipse is total, the moon does not disappear at all, turning dark red. There is an explanation for this: with the onset of a total eclipse, the rays of the Sun illuminate the Moon further. These rays shine tangentially on earth's surface, are refracted and then dissipated in the earth's atmosphere.
The Earth's atmosphere is able to absorb the short-wavelength spectral parts of the blue and shades of blue, but at the same time skipping reds without any problems. They reach the lunar surface at the onset of an eclipse. This phenomenon has the same nature that is observed in coloring western part sky in soft pink color of sunbeams.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon (in the full moon phase) enters the cone of the shadow cast by the Earth. The diameter of the spot of the Earth's shadow at a distance of 363,000 km ( minimum distance of the Moon from the Earth) is about 2.5 times the diameter of the Moon, so the entire Moon can be obscured. A lunar eclipse can be observed on half of the Earth's territory (where the Moon is above the horizon at the time of the eclipse). The view of the shadowed Moon from any vantage point is the same. The maximum theoretically possible duration of the total phase of a lunar eclipse is 108 minutes; such were, for example, the lunar eclipses of August 13, 1859, July 16, 2000.
At each moment of the eclipse, the degree of coverage of the Moon's disk by the Earth's shadow is expressed by the phase of the eclipse F. The magnitude of the phase is determined by the distance 0 from the center of the Moon to the center of the shadow. In astronomical calendars, the values \u200b\u200bof and 0 are given for different moments of the eclipse.
If the Moon falls into the total shadow of the Earth only partially, there is partial eclipse. With it, part of the Moon is dark, and part, even in the maximum phase, remains in partial shade and is illuminated by the sun's rays.
Around the cone of the Earth's shadow there is a penumbra - a region of space in which the Earth obscures the Sun only partially. If the Moon passes through the penumbra, but does not enter the shadow, penumbral eclipse. With it, the brightness of the Moon decreases, but only slightly: such a decrease is almost imperceptible to the naked eye and is recorded only by instruments. Only when the Moon in a penumbral eclipse passes near the cone of total shadow, with clear sky you can see a slight darkening from one edge of the lunar disk.
An eclipsed moon flickers in the sky above the Monument to the Savior of the World in San Salvador, El Salvador, December 21, 2010.
(Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images)
During a total eclipse, the Moon takes on a reddish or brownish hue. The color of the eclipse depends on the condition of the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere, since only the light that has passed through it illuminates the moon during a total eclipse. Comparing pictures of total lunar eclipses different years, it is easy to see the difference in color. For example, the eclipse of July 6, 1982 was reddish, while the eclipse of January 20, 2000 was brown. The Moon acquires such colors during eclipses due to the fact that the earth's atmosphere scatters more red rays, so you can never observe, say, a blue or green lunar eclipse. But total eclipses differ not only in color, but also in brightness. Yes, exactly, brightness, and there is a special scale for determining the brightness of a total eclipse, called the Danjon scale (in honor of the French astronomer André Danjon, 1890-1967).
The gradation of the Danjon scale has 5 points. 0 - the eclipse is very dark (the Moon is barely visible in the sky), 1 - the eclipse is dark gray (details are noticeable on the Moon), 2 - the eclipse is gray with a brown tint, 3 - the light red-brown eclipse, 4 - the very light copper-red eclipse (The moon is clearly visible, and all the main details of the surface are distinguishable).
If the plane of the lunar orbit lay in the plane of the ecliptic, then lunar (as well as solar) eclipses would occur monthly. But most The moon spends time either above or below the plane of the earth's orbit due to the fact that the plane of the lunar orbit has a five-degree inclination to the plane of the earth's orbit. Consequently, natural satellite The Earth falls into its shadow only twice a year, that is, at the time when the nodes of the lunar orbit (the points of its intersection with the ecliptic plane) are on the Sun-Earth line. Then a solar eclipse occurs on a new moon, and a lunar eclipse on a full moon.
Every year there are at least two lunar eclipses, however, due to the mismatch of the planes of the lunar and earth orbits, their phases differ. Eclipses repeat in the same order every 6585⅓ days (or 18 years 11 days and ~8 hours - a period called saros); knowing where and when a total lunar eclipse was observed, one can accurately determine the time of subsequent and previous eclipses that are clearly visible in this area. This cyclicity often helps to accurately date the events described in the historical annals. The history of lunar eclipses goes far into the past. The first total lunar eclipse is recorded in ancient Chinese chronicles. With the help of calculations, it was possible to calculate that it happened on January 29, 1136 BC. e. Three more total lunar eclipses are recorded in the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy (March 19, 721 BC, March 8 and September 1, 720 BC). History often describes lunar eclipses, which helps a lot to establish the exact date any historical event. For example, the commander of the Athenian army Nikias was frightened by the beginning of a total lunar eclipse, a panic began in the army, which led to the death of the Athenians. Thanks to astronomical calculations, it was possible to establish that this happened on August 27, 413 BC. e.
In the Middle Ages, a total lunar eclipse did Christopher Columbus a great favor. His next expedition to the island of Jamaica was in a difficult situation, food and drinking water were running out, and people were threatened with starvation. Columbus's attempts to get food from the local Indians ended in vain. But Columbus knew that on March 1, 1504, a total lunar eclipse would occur, and in the evening he warned the leaders of the tribes living on the island that he would steal the Moon from them if they did not deliver food and water to the ship. The Indians just laughed and left. But, as soon as the eclipse began, the Indians were seized with indescribable horror. Food and water were immediately delivered, and the leaders on their knees begged Columbus to return the Moon to them. Columbus, of course, could not "refuse" this request, and soon the moon, to the delight of the Indians, shone again in the sky. As you can see, an ordinary astronomical phenomenon can be very useful, and knowledge of astronomy is simply necessary for travelers.
Observations of lunar eclipses may bring some scientific benefit, as they provide material for studying the structure of the earth's shadow and the state of the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere. Amateur observations of partial lunar eclipses come down to accurate recording of the moments of contact, photographing, sketching and describing changes in the brightness of the Moon and lunar objects in the eclipsed part of the Moon. The moments of contact of the lunar disk with the Earth's shadow and the descent from it are fixed (with the greatest possible accuracy) by the clock, adjusted according to the exact time signals. It is also necessary to note the contacts of the earth's shadow with large objects on the moon. Observations can be made with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. The accuracy of observations naturally increases when observing through a telescope. To register eclipse contacts, it is necessary to set the telescope to the maximum magnification for it and direct it to the corresponding points of contact of the Moon's disk with the Earth's shadow several minutes before the predicted moment. All entries are recorded in a notebook (an eclipse observation journal).
If an amateur astronomer has at his disposal a photoexposure meter (a device that measures the brightness of an object), then with its help you can plot the change in the brightness of the lunar disk during an eclipse. To do this, you need to set the exposure meter so that its sensitive element is directed exactly at the disk of the moon. The readings of the device are taken every 2-5 minutes, and are recorded in the table in three columns: the brightness measurement number, the time and the brightness of the moon. At the end of the eclipse, using the data in the table, it will be possible to display a graph of the change in the brightness of the Moon during this astronomical phenomenon. As a light meter, you can use any camera that has an automatic exposure system with an exposure scale.
Photographing the phenomenon can be done with any camera that has a removable lens. When shooting an eclipse, the lens is removed from the camera, and the body of the apparatus is attached to the eyepiece part of the telescope using an adapter. It will be shooting with ocular magnification. If the lens of your camera is non-removable, then you can simply attach the device to the eyepiece of the telescope, but the quality of such an image will be worse. If your camera or camcorder has zoom features the need for additional magnifiers, as a rule, disappears, because. the dimensions of the moon at the maximum magnification of such a camera are sufficient for filming.
However, the best quality images are obtained by photographing the Moon in the direct focus of the telescope. In such an optical system, the telescope lens automatically becomes a camera lens, only with a longer focal length.