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April 14, 2014 - Red Moon Rising

Red Moon Rising Skywatchers in most of North and South America as well as Australia will be treated to a total lunar eclipse this week, and depending on their location they will either see the red eclipsed Moon rising, setting, or somewhere in between. At 1:58 AM ET on April 15th, the Moon will begin moving into the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, the umbra. At 3:06 AM ET, the Moon will be totally within the shadow, where it will remain for nearly ninety minutes. During that time, the Moon will take on a decidedly reddish hue as it is illuminated only by sunlight that is being refracted through Earth’s atmosphere (the same phenomenon that causes the setting Sun to appear red). The period of totality was captured by Fred Espenak in this multiple exposure of the total lunar eclipse of 2004.

Image Credit: Fred Espenak

Weekly Calendar

April 14-20, 2014

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 14

Passover begins at sunset

Mars closest approach to Earth
Mars 3° north of Moon
Pluto appears stationary

1629: Christiaan Huygens born
1972: KSC and Vandenberg AFB picked as shuttle launch sites
2005: Expedition 11 crew launched to International Space Station

Tuesday 15

Full Moon 3:42 AM ET
Total lunar eclipse visible from most of N & S America
Ceres at opposition

1999: Landsat 7 launched

Wednesday 16

1867: Wilbur Wright born
1946
: First captured V2 rocket launched from White Sands, NM
1965: First test-firing of Saturn V rocket first stage (S-IC)
1972: Apollo 16 launched

Thursday 17

Saturn 0.4° north of Moon

1967: Surveyor 3 launched
1969: First X-24A lifting body glide test
1970: Apollo 13 crew returns to Earth
1998: STS-90 Columbia launched

Friday 18

Good Friday

2014: LADEE spacecraft intentionally crashed into Moon at end of mission

Saturday 19

1967: Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
1971: Salyut 1 launched, first space station.
1982: Salyut 7 launched
1993: 200th Soviet / Russian spacewalk
2001: STS-100 Endeavour launched

Sunday 20

Easter Sunday

1972: Apollo 16 lands on Moon

Suggestions for new history dates or better links? Corrections for errors on this page? Please e-mail me.