Eclipse 101 For Astronauts
Gorgeous moon rise! Such great detail when seen from space. Next full moon marks #Eclipse2017. We’ll be watching from @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/Mk6khSN6gI
— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) August 4, 2017
Um that's the next NEW moon @AstroKomrade https://t.co/RCCsEMh6oz
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) August 7, 2017
Par for the course, most astronauts have a rudimentary knowledge at best of astronomy and planetary science.
Yes, a solar eclipse is always a new moon, a lunar eclipse is a full moon.
The August 7 Full Moon is a partial lunar eclipse, visible mostly from the eastern hemisphere.
There is always a lunar eclipse that precedes or follows a solar eclipse by two weeks.
For DSCOVR, it will be a full moon 🙂
Now that you mention it, DSCOVR/EPIC has done images of eclipse shadows and of lunar transits before. I hope they make a big deal about this one. The publicity might help with continued funding. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything on their web page about the upcoming eclipse.
I wonder—with the approval of our host—how many people frequenting this site are making plans to see the eclipse? And who is traveling the furtherest?
We are going up to the St. Louis area from SW Florida; not very far really.
I waited too long and got priced out. (Even six months ago, do you know what a Motel 6 in Casper, Wyoming was going for?) But we’ll have 94% totality in Boulder.
Hit I25 north; you don’t have to go far for 100%, and it’s a huge difference.
Though I suppose the freeway will be busy.
We’ll be driving from Los Angeles to Weiser, Idaho.
I live in the STL area. I’ll be camping down in Missourah. Not far 🙂 Less than 2 hr drive and we’ll be further than we need to be. A 1hr drive would have been enough to get right in the middle.