Clouds cast a shadow on eclipse

By Scott Stephen
sstephen19@mscd.edu

Telescopes pointed toward the sky, anticipation loomed and an anxious crowd of nearly 100 hopefuls gathered at the flagpole in the center of Auraria campus, intent on witnessing an extraordinary event. Err, well sort of.

From approximately 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 20, a number of students, professors and scientists surveyed the night sky in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the total lunar eclipse.

As the sun sank and darkness emerged, the stage was set for a spectacular show. However, scattered clouds deteriorated much of the view from the start, preventing the crowd from seeing the spectacle.

“A little redness and an opening here or there, but nothing much,” Gary Robinson, a volunteer, said.

“It looks like it’s going to be a hard one to spot.”

In spite of the setback, Stephanie Pahl, a Metro physics professor and coordinator of the event, deemed the experience a success.

“I think the turnout shows just how amazing it is to have that many people interested with astronomy and I couldn’t be happier. I am optimistic from this experience that students learned a lot to some extent.”

The event was sponsored by the Denver Astronomical Society and included several students and community volunteers.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the Astronomical Society,” Pahl added.

Yet in the sky, one observation was universal. Over the moon, a distinct redness formed. Spectators could see this redness with the naked eye, limiting the necessity of using the fancy Celestron CPC series telescopes on hand.

The telescopes would have helped detail how a total lunar eclipse occurs in our atmosphere as the full moon passes into Earth’s shadow and blocks light from the sun’s rays. During any eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, making a darkened moon visible to nighttime spectators.

The weather left many dissatisfied, though a number of students and faculty still were able to have a good time as they awaited the clouds’ dispersion. Jeremy Aragon, a senior at UCD, joked about the experience with the crowd.

“I’ll be back, I’m just going to move those clouds out of the way,” Aragon said.

Pahl even took part in the laughs. “So I want you all to lie to your friends about what you saw here,” she said.

Spectators have to wait until December 2010 to see the next lunar eclipse.