A total lunar eclipse will be visible in Hong Kong on Oct. 8… if you can see past all the smog and pollution. Here’s to hoping!
The fairly rare astronomical occurrence will take place around 3 hours, 36 minutes right after moonrise, with the “total” bit lasting for around an hour. The process will see the moon turn a dull red colour as a “result of the blue part of sunlight being scattered away by the Earth’s atmosphere and the remaining red light refracted onto the moon”. Got that?
The best place to catch it will be somewhere with an unobstructed view of the horizon to the east, such as Shek O, the top of Tai Mo Shan, or the east dam of the High island Reservoir.
Alternately, you can hang out with the gorgeous geeks from the Space Museum, who will help you gawp at the moon through telescopes along the mid section of the Avenue of Stars between 6:30pm and 9:35pm. Come at 9:34pm, and you’ll still get attention; 9:36pm… too late!
If you’re a real geek and that’s waaay too out in the open for you, however, you can stay in your darkened room and watch the event via a webcast. You can also download the Space Museum’s “Star Hoppers” app for extra info and tips. Seriously though, don’t do that. Just go outside and look up.
The eclipse is the second episode of a “tetrad” eclipse, which sees four total lunar eclipses occur within an interval of six full moons. The remaining two will happen on Apr. 4 2015 and Sep. 28 2015, but only the Apr. 4 one will be visible from Hong Kong.
And if you miss this one and that one, the next tetrad will occur in 2032… so see you there!
Picture: Wikimedia
