February 29, 2008, Impressive eclipse viewed by 300 people at Botanical Garden, By Phyllis Pitluga, Sky Calendar March 2008

For a second year in a row, El Charco del Ingenio hosted over 300 people to watch the full moon eclipse from the great Plaza de Cuatro Vientos. The eclipse occurred February 20.

The evening began with a discussion on celestial phenomena led by Phyllis Pitluga, Astronomer Emerita of the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago.

Young children as well as many adults and community elders were eager to participate in the demonstration and even "re-enact" the event in attempt to solidify their understanding about how our vision of the full moon is eclipsed by the Earth's shadow for a short period of time.

Naomi Zerriffi’s photographs document not only the activities of the evening, but also captured faces of community members who came to share in the fun of the celestial happening.

PHOTO CAPTION: Lunar eclipse from Guadalajara, February 20, 2008 by Francisco Godinez

On schedule February 20, the Sun, Earth, its shadow and the full moon aligned to create one of nature’s magnificent memories. From time immemorial this drama has played out yet it is the human experience that impresses me. The group gathered at the Charco del Ingenio was a blend of Mexicans and foreigners, young and old, all taking in the splendor and enjoying the opportunity to share this magical night together.

We saw it all: the full moon rising as the sun set, the shadow of Earth upon the sky to the east, the moon moving into the shadow, the increasing darkness upon the moon, ever more stars in the darkening sky, and the gradual deepening of the shadow upon the moon. As somewhat predicted, this was a darker eclipse because of the clouds over the Americas and Asia where the sun was setting or rising and being bent into Earth’s shadow and because of eight volcanoes erupting over the Americas, including Popocatepetl here in Mexico.

At mid-eclipse time, 9:26pm, we all voted on how dark the eclipse was based upon a 5-step scale of: black, brown, dark red, copper red, orange. Our consensus was brown to dark red for the northern half of the moon nearer the center of Earth’s shadow. The southern edge of the moon remained bright because more sunlight was being bent into the edge of the Earth’s shadow by Earth’s atmosphere.

The stars of the constellation Orion, with its three stars in a conspicuous row, formed the centerpiece to pointing out the stars: Canopus below, Sirius to the left (and brightest), Aldebaran to the right (and reddish), Mars high overhead and Saturn below the eclipsed Moon. You can still locate these same celestial lights in the March evening sky. Many people set up their telescopes to share the views with everyone.

The bonfire, ponché and marshmallows to toast over the fire plus the traditional full moon ceremony made for a memorable night together. The next total lunar eclipse will be December 21, 2010.

Phyllis Burton Pitluga is Astronomer Emerita, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago.

Sky Calendar March 2008

By following the moon as the biggest and brightest “pointer” in the sky, during the month you can identify different planets and bright stars. On following nights you can relocate them but without the moon—the moon moves about 25 times its own diameter from one night to the next. The moon is much closer than the planets of our solar system and the stars are even farther. So, when the moon appears close to a celestial light they are truly separated by millions, billions or trillions of miles.

Mar. 2, Sunday: the Waning Crescent Moon passes under the planet Jupiter at dawn.

Mar. 5, Wednesday: the slender Crescent Moon passes just beneath Mercury and Venus in the dawn sky. Mercury and Venus will be close throughout the month. In a telescope, the Moon will be sliding over the planet Neptune this morning.

Mar. 7, Friday: New Moon, or “no moon” because the side facing Earth is in complete darkness.

Mar. 12, Wednesday: Waxing Crescent Moon passes above the Pleiades star cluster.

Mar. 14, Friday: First Quarter Moon, looks like a half moon but is really a quarter-lit moon because half of the moon faces us. The Moon is passing above Mars tonight.

Mar. 19, Wednesday: Spring Equinox, with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night, worldwide. The exact moment occurs 11 minutes before midnight here on March 19 in the Central Time Zone (in the Eastern Time Zone the date of the equinox is March 20). The Moon passes below Saturn and very close to the star Regulus.

Mar. 21, Friday: Full Moon when the Moon rises at Sunset and sets at sunrise, crossing the sky all night long as the Earth rotates.

Mar. 23–Apr 6: a cone of light, called the Zodiacal Light, is visible in the west after evening twilight for the next 2 weeks. This is dust in the plane of the Solar System that forward-scatters sunlight into a cone of light.

Mar. 23, Sunday: Mercury is closest to Venus in the dawn sky this month, passing beneath Venus.

Mar. 29, Saturday: Last Quarter Moon rises at midnight