Persons in the DR are likely to be able to enjoy full view of the millennium’s first total lunar eclipse. The first full moon of the year can be seen late tonight and through Friday, 21 January. Astronomers are predicting a 76-minute total eclipse of the moon, to make the late evening show even more spectacular this time around. The last total eclipse of the moon over the Western Hemisphere took place in 1996. Eclipses occur when the Moon or a portion of it enters the Earth’s shadow. Earth, traveling counterclockwise around the sun as viewed from the North Pole, blocks sunlight from the moon as it orbits the planet. This great spectacle of nature can be viewed from almost anywhere in the DR, clouds permitting. During the total eclipse, which will be able to be viewed from 11:01 pm in the DR, the moon won’t completely fade from view, instead changing to a dimmer reddish hue, a reflection of sunlight bent by the Earth’s atmosphere falling on the orb. The reddish hue the moon takes on during the glimpse depends on the amount of volcanic dust in the atmosphere, which colors sunlight that passes through the air and is refracted onto the moon. Generally, the less soot in the stratosphere, the brighter the moon during an eclipse, astronomers say. Local weather experts say it can be viewed in the DR from 11:05 to 12:22 am of Friday, 21 January. Unlike solar eclipses, moon eclipses can be safely viewed with the naked eye.
