Total Lunar Eclipse Saturday March 3rd 2007

There's a total lunar eclipse on March 3rd. It's on Satuday night and we are in just the right place to see the whole thing

First contact 20:17
Greatest eclipse 23:21
Last contact 02:26 (March 4th)

Yes, we've been awaiting this one.

Should be a good day. I'm going to Newgrange in the morning, and capping off the Day with a total lunar eclipse.

Make a careful note of the colour of the total eclipsed moon.

If the weather permits I plan to take stills.

If the weather permits I plan to take stills.

Absolutely, lets hope its a cloud free night! I'm hoping for a copper moon, that should make for an interesting photo.

Basically it will start soon after moonrise and is visible between 8.30pm and 2.20am. Its on a Saturday night so it will be easy for most people to stay up late for it, its been a long time since we had a good eclipse so I've been planning this one for a long time, so all we need is the weather to hold off. The last one was in May 4th 2004, we had a big storm at the time with 70mph wind and intermittent rain with some gaps in the clouds.
These are fairly accurate times for the eclipse.

Begins entering Penumbra at 08.27pm, (Difficult to see)
Entire moon in Penumbra at 9.26 (Should be noticeable as moon darkens)
Begins entering Umbra at 9.33, (A dark edge appears on the moon)
Maximum totality at 11.21 (A deep dark red moon)
Starts to leave Umbra at 11.56 (Moon brightens slightly)
Moon fully in Penumbra at 01.11 (Red tinge has almost gone, but moon still not fully bright).
Finished leaving Penumbra at 2.22 (Moon back to normal illumination and completely out of the shadow)

This is a pic from the May 2004 storm eclipse, its a tiny bit blurry, but it couldn't be helped as we had to hold down the tripod to stop the thing been blown into the next field by the wind, but it does show the colour well.
farm1.static.flickr.com/145/386517205_ff91707848_o.jpg

Thats a fantastic shot Dave!!