Written by By The WorldPost
TIMPANOGOS, ILLINOIS – Oldest living dinosaur remains just outside this little town — a 54-foot shark tooth skeleton — just on the edge of Bearsfield. A statue of a furred salamander, a big deal here.
Just this week it was a snowstorm, but frankly people are used to seeing it snow here.
In 2007, tornado season here, in the town of Plant City (population 2000) around Fawn County, 20 people died. The tornado that devastated the town of Poona in Wisconsin and Moore, Oklahoma — which destroyed more than 2,000 homes — is on the verge of the list of all-time deadliest tornadoes.
But did you know about the longest partial lunar eclipse in nearly 600 years? On this Saturday, the moon will look so orange/red that it may appear like it’s hovering right above the water.
And just a couple of hours later, the month of February will end and March will begin. We’re about to enter the March Equinox, when the days and nights are nearly equal.
Here’s the good news about the partial lunar eclipse, its time and timing: It’s not going to bother most of you. The first full moon in January is always known as the “Equinox” in some, but “The Month of the Dead” is not a word yet. No one who makes puns ever gets their own month, don’t they?
But the real reason why you should watch the lunar eclipse is, at least partly, to have an excuse to raise a glass to your ancestors.
During this eclipse, the full moon “rises between the seas,” said astrophysicist Harold Froumy.
The much bigger moon rises on Saturday and Sunday. The full moon “rises between the seas” says astrophysicist Harold Froumy.
According to Froumy, the eclipse will “caused the moon to look red, or somewhat orange, or brown … or a reddish-brown.”
“The moon rises between the seas of the earth,” Froumy said.
You’ll see the full moon, in the sky, behind the sun, Froumy said.
“At the moonrise on the weekend of the lunar eclipse, the moon rises in front of the sun, right before the earth’s shadows appear above the sea,” Froumy told CNN.
“This lunar eclipse may be a reminder of how our ancestors survived in the oceans,” said ecologist Jeffrey Muller, noting that when the moon appears red, it’s emitting infrared heat — heat the oceans are absorbing, according to Muller.
“Also, April showers bring May flowers,” Muller noted. “Both is thanks to earth’s shadow, and the moon, which orbits the earth in a movement that creates a sliver of darkness over the Earth.”
The eclipse “is due to the moon rising behind the sun. It’ll appear reddish, dark,” said anthropologist Andrele Caraballo, comparing the eclipse to the burning of the ancient Mayan calendar or the end of the Perseid meteor shower, a phenomenon that has in recent years predicted changes in solar weather patterns.
This eclipse “is due to the moon rising behind the sun. It’ll appear reddish, dark,” said anthropologist Andrele Caraballo.
The eclipse, Caraballo said, is “more than an archaeological show.”
As you can see, this whole thing is pretty much a fad. In winter, February is not the most popular month in the United States, with fewer people going to the doctor or buying house insurance.
Who would want to watch this kind of eclipse anyway?
What about people who don’t live in Illinois or Illinois? Or people who don’t know what the full moon looks like?
For now, the answer is obvious: Please just go home and watch it while you can. The next one, if it happens, won’t be for 634 years.
* Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Juergen Baetz, who is based in Germany, and is based in Chicago, Illinois.