Tuesday morning’s lunar eclipse

lunareclipse.jpgIf you get up early on Tuesday, Aug. 28, and the weather is clear, you will be able to watch a total lunar eclipse from most places in the United States.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun’s light and casting a shadow on the moon.

During the eclipse, the earth’s shadow takes a bigger and bigger “bite” out of the moon until it’s totally eclipsed. The process takes about 3 1/2 hours. The moon doesn’t totally disappear during an eclipse, because some light still reaches it, but it will get a cool orange or reddish glow as the shadow passes over its surface.

The best viewing of this eclipse will be in the western half of the United States. In the East, only about a half-hour of the eclipse will be visible before the sun comes up. The eclipse begins at 2:52 a.m. PDT or 5:52 a.m. EDT.

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