Editors: Doug Duncan, director of Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory, is available for interviews on or before Oct. 27. He can be reached at (303) 735-6141.
Colorado sky watchers will be treated to a total eclipse of the moon in the week before Halloween, according to experts at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Sommers-Bausch Observatory and Fiske Planetarium.
The total lunar eclipse will occur Wednesday, Oct. 27, at about 8:25 p.m. and will last for more than an hour. During the darkest part of the eclipse the moon will be only one ten-thousandth as bright as when it first rose, according to Keith Gleason, manager of CU-Boulder's Sommers-Bausch Observatory.
"The totally eclipsed moon takes on a distinctive reddish appearance ranging from copper-colored to deep blood-red," Gleason said.
The observatory will hold an open house from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m., weather permitting, and will have staff people available to help visitors observe the last total lunar eclipse visible from Colorado for three years, Gleason said.
Fiske Planetarium also will offer programs during the evening, including a free public lecture at 6 p.m. explaining lunar eclipses. At 9 p.m., the planetarium will show "Deep Impact: Rendezvous with a Comet," in honor of the recent impact of a meteorite in Berthoud. Admission for the show is $6 for adults, $5 for students and $3.50 for children and seniors.
The eclipse will officially begin shortly after 6 p.m. when the moon starts to enter the shadow of the Earth. People watching the eclipse won't notice anything until about 6:45 p.m. when the lower-left edge of the moon will become darker, Gleason said. The last visible darkening of the moon will be over by 11:30 p.m.
The moon is "totally eclipsed" when it becomes completely immersed in the shadow of the Earth and receives no direct sunlight, according to Gleason. The last total lunar eclipse in November 2003 lasted only 20 minutes.
"This month's eclipse will last longer because the moon will pass much more centrally through the shadow of the Earth," Gleason said.
The moon takes on its reddish color during a total eclipse because a small amount of sunlight "leaks" around the rim of the Earth through its atmosphere and gets bent so that it shines on the moon. Only the reddest portion of white sunlight makes it through, so the moon takes on the color of a red sunset, according to Gleason.
The next total lunar eclipse visible from the Denver metro area will occur on Aug. 28, 2007, and will be cut short by the moon setting behind the mountains before the eclipse is over. The next total lunar eclipse visible from beginning to end from the Denver area won't happen until Feb. 20, 2008, according to Gleason.
Sommers-Bausch Observatory and Fiske Planetarium are located on the Boulder campus on Regent Drive at its intersection with Kittridge Loop Drive.
For more information call (303) 492-5002 or visit the observatory's Web site at or the planetarium's Web site at .