Alachua Astronomy Club: Lunar Eclipse May 2003

« Hear a Public Talk About a Future Celestial Event Never Seen by Any Living Person »
« See the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn Through Telescopes »
« See Stars in a Portable Planetarium »
« Watch a Total Eclipse of the Moon »

— All events free and open to the public —

The Talk

Title	"Crossing the Sun: Transits of Venus — One of Nature's Rarest Curiosities" (With A Brief Introduction to Eclipses)
Speaker	Dr. Howard L. Cohen, Department of Astronomy, University of Florida (See About the Speaker)
Date & Time	Thursday, 2003 May 15, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Place	Lucille T. Maloney Classroom, Powell Hall: Education & Exhibition Center (Florida Museum of Natural History) SW 34 Street & Hull Road, UF Campus, Gainesville FL — See Powell Hall for Exact Location
Synopsis	In 2004 the planet Venus will cross or "transit" the Sun's face, one of the rarest of all planetary alignments. This multimedia program tells the odysseys of astronomers and explorers who journeyed to distant continents in quest of an event that few humans have ever witnessed. Learn why transits of Venus became a major scientific goal of the last four hundred years and what resulted. And find out what opportunities exist in your lifetime to observe a sight so rare that no one who is now alive has ever seen this event! This talk will also give a brief introduction to this evening's total eclipse of the Moon, an example of a relatively common "planetary alignment."

Telescopes to View Moon and Planets

The AAC will have several telescopes set up in front of the Museum of Natural History (Powell Hall).

The Moon will be bright, full and glary but will go into total eclipse later in the evening!

Jupiter is now the brightest celestial object in evening skies. See our largest planet's cloud belts and four large satellites!

See the chilling beauty of Saturn. Its rings are now open at their maximum possible extent easily revealing the famous Cassini divsion in the rings! But come early since Saturn will only be easily visible for about an hour after sunset (which occurs at 8:15 p.m. EDT).

The Planetarium

The AAC will set up a "portable planetarium" (on loan from Buchholz High School) in Powell Hall (Museum of Natural History) so you can learn about the starry heavens above!
(A planetarium is a building and an optical device for projecting images of celestial bodies and other astronomical phenomena onto the inner surface of a hemispherical dome)

The Eclipse — Public Invited to AAC Eclipse Party

The Moon in Total Eclipse
(David Muir, Jan. 20, 2000)
The Earth's atmosphere often scatters sunlight into the Earth's shadow so the eclipsed Moon may shine with a dim, reddish color

The Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. (AAC) and Florida Museum of Natural History is sponsoring a viewing of a Total Lunar Eclipse, starting Thursday evening, May 15, 2003. Club members will set up their telescopes in front of Powell Hall (Florida Museum of Natural History) on the University of Florida Campus in Gainesville.

Come to the Museum by 7:30 p.m.

Hear a 40 minute public talk about an exciting, rare celestial event!

Visit the portable planetarium in the Museum

Go outside — lots of telescopes to look through.

See Jupiter and Saturn

Club members will assist children and adults

Then see the eclipse
(The AAC will have telescopes set up until about midnight, weather permitting)

**Lunar Eclipse Times (Thursday/Friday 2003, May 15/16)** *
Times Eastern Daylight Time, which is Universal Time (UT) minus four hours
P1. Moon enters penumbra⁽¹⁾	9:05 p.m. EDT	Moon's Path Through Earth's Shadow Click image for larger version (courtesy Fred Espenak, NASA/GFSC)
U1. Moon enters umbra⁽²⁾	10:03 p.m. EDT
U2. Moon fully immersed in umbra	11:14 p.m. EDT
Moon at greatest eclipse	11:40 p.m. EDT
U3. Moon begins to leave umbra	12:07 a.m. EST
U4. Moon fully out of umbra	1:17 a.m. EDT
P4. Moon leaves penumbra	2:15 a.m. EDT
Notes: (1) Penumbra Outer, lighter part of Earth's shadow. (2) Umbra Inner, darker part of Earth's shadow.

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