Total Lunar Eclipse Is on Tap

Forget football. February features a truly super event: a prime-time, total lunar eclipse on the night of Feb. 20. It is safe to see and fun to watch.

On that late-winter evening, look east and pray for clear skies as the lunar eclipse shifts into various phases. The eclipse becomes noticeable with a partial phase starting at 8:43 p.m. Eastern time and moves into the totality phase beginning at 10:01 p.m. The middle of totality is 10:26 p.m., and totality ends at 10:51 p.m.

Then, for faithful sky gazers, it is back to a partial phase that runs until 12:09 a.m. (Feb. 21), according to Fred Espenak, an astronomer and eclipse expert at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is between the sun and the moon, and the moon is moving through Earth's shadow. Espenak says that during total lunar eclipses, the moon can take on different hues, ranging from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and occasionally a very dark gray.

You will not need special eye protection to view the lunar eclipse. (It's when viewing solar eclipses that you must protect your eyes.) A lunar eclipse can be observed with nothing more than the naked eye; Espenak says that using binoculars (standard 7x35 or 7x50) will enhance the experience.

Sky watchers may obtain more details at Espenak's Eclipse Web site: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html.

Track the Planets

Mars spends February loitering between the constellations Gemini and Taurus. Early in the month, the red planet is high in the southeastern sky after dusk. Later in February, find it high in the south after dusk. Our neighboring planet starts the month as a robust zero magnitude (bright) object but fades as the days go by.

Resting comfortably under the constellation Leo, find our giant friend Saturn. The ringed planet will be up all night, as it will be opposite the sun late in February. Be sure to look at the heavens Feb. 20, the night of the total lunar eclipse, to find Saturn in close proximity to the moon.

Like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the dancing duo of Venus and Jupiter refresh the morning sky. Look to the southeast before dawn to find them, as Venus (negative third magnitude, very bright) is the more dazzling of the two. The pair split rapidly through the month.

The ever-fleet Mercury rises in the morning sky late in the month. Look for it to befriend Venus on Feb. 27 low in the southeastern sky.

Down-to-Earth Events

¿ Tuesday-- Astronomer Rosemary Killen presents an update on a mission to visit a fleet planet, "Messenger at Mercury" at an open house, University of Maryland observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. View the heavens through a large telescope afterward, weather permitting. Information: 301-405-6555; http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

¿ Tuesday-- Kate Brand, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, discusses "Quasars and Galaxies Over Cosmic Time" in the institute's auditorium, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 8 p.m. Information: http://hubblesite.org/about_us/public-talks.shtml.

¿ Friday-- Rhonda Stroud, of the Naval Research Lab, talks about the Stardust mission, which gathered comet material to return to Earth. The lecture will be at the regular meeting of the National Capital Astronomers at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. Information: http://www.capitalastronomers.org.

¿ Feb. 16-- Slaves from the South followed the "drinking gourd" (the Big Dipper) as they fled to freedom in the North. Listen to the presentation "African Skies" as astronomers recount that story and others at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park. 7 p.m. Information: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet.

¿ Feb. 20-- Astronomer Lucy McFadden explains "Meteorite Hunting in Antarctica" at an open house at the University of Maryland observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. Eclipse viewing and sky gazing afterward, weather permitting. Information: 301-405-6555, http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

¿ Feb. 21-- Where in the world is the universe? Edward "Rocky" Kolb, a University of Chicago astronomer, examines the problem of dark matter and dark energy in his talk "Mysteries of the Dark Universe" at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1530 P St. NW. 6:45 p.m. Information: http://www.ciw.edu.

Blaine Friedlander can be reached at PostSkyWatch@aol.com.