Longest and darkest total lunar eclipse of century tomorrow

Don’t say we didn’t warn you ahead of time! The upcoming total lunar eclipse will happen on June 15, 2011… and it’s a rare one. This time the Moon will pass directly through the center of the Earth’s shadow cone – an event that hasn’t happened in 11 years and won’t happen again until 2018. The eclipse visibility path will be over Africa, and Central Asia, visible rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe, and setting over eastern Asia. In western Asia, Australia and the Philippines – visible just before sunrise. But before you just read on to another article because you can’t see it from where you live, remember I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve…

Thanks to this fantastic magic we call the Internet, all you need to do is tune into our friends around the world! The first listing of our live eclipse broadcasters will be Astronomylive.com. Coordinating the eclipse project and different activities for this year is Mohan Sanjeevan, a science and science fiction writer from India. Since May 2011, Mohan volunteers as the Event & Broadcast Organizer of AstronomyLive covering his country. But Mohan is more than just a coordinater, he’s also involved in other venues like writing poetry – including science poems (freelance science writing for more than twenty years; writer of nano science and tech articles for Nano Digest, a monthly magazine from India), popularization of science and creating awareness on global warming, alternative sources of energy and making the planet a more livable place. Space and astronomy are his natural areas of interest. To top it off, Sanjeevan is also a researcher – full of implementable ideas for space and future technologies.

 AstronomyLive is a center for LIVE astronomy and you can participate, too! Host your broadcasts of various types on this free service. Amateur astronomers, professional astronomers, observatories, astronomy associations and more are all very welcome. The current team consists of Sander Klieverik, Voskuh and Dennis from the Netherlands, LesD from the United States, Mohan Sanjeevan, Aakanksha, Prof. M. Jothi Rajan, Jhon Kennedy, Bhaskar, Abhilasha and Sanyam Kumar Shrivastava from India. All of these great people came together to share the view with you!

And there’s more…

A free, live webcast from Bareket Observatory in Israel will also feature the total lunar eclipse on June 15, 2011. How do you get there? Simply click on this link for the Bareket Observatory Live Eclipse Broadcast! The hardworking group in Israel invite you to discover the Moon during the eclipse using hands-on eclipse activities. Conduct your own science projects using the live lunar eclipse feed! What a great opportunity for your students, family and friends!

The great folks at Bareket Observatory have expanded tremendously over the years and now they’re pleased to announce the launch of the Astro-Edu Network, a free state-of-the-art astronomy education database for teachers, students and the general public. Among the goals of AStro-Edu is increased communication and understanding within the population of the Middle East using astronomy as the catalyst. Astro-Edu net can be translated to more than 60 different languages using the integrated translation module (move your cursor over the flag in the upper left to translate the materials).

Lunar Eclipse Timing Chart

So don’t sit out the total lunar eclipse on June 15, 2011 – 17.00 – 23.00 UTC (GMT). Be sure to enjoy the event with our friends around the world!