Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311270106
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Short
"It will be high up in a dark sky, so nobody anywhere in North America should have any trouble seeing it, if the sky is clear," said Alan MacRobert, an associate editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.
The moon will begin entering the Earth's shadow at 10:27 p.m. Sunday. It will be totally eclipsed from 1:02 a.m. until 1:50 a.m. Monday, making for a late night for watchers on the East Coast.
Still, MacRobert's advice is not to miss it.
"Either stay up and have an eclipse party, or set the alarm clock and at least stick your head out the door," he said.
He described a lunar eclipse as "one of the grander spectacles of nature." He noted that for thousands of years, people thought a lunar eclipse was something horrible and catastrophic. "That's a measure of the visual impact it can have," he said.
Lunar eclipses occur once or twice a year, but this one happens to be perfectly situated for viewing in North America. As the passing moon becomes eclipsed, starlight will seem to shine brighter - particularly from Aldebaran and the Pleiades.
It will be the most widely visible total eclipse in North America since July 5-6, 1982, with the next good one not due until Sept. 26, 1996.
by CNB