Super Sized Lunar Eclipse on December 10
On December 10, 2011 at around 4:45am PST (12:45 GMT) a total eclipse of the Moon will be visible in the early morning skies of the Pacific side of North America, across the entire Pacific Ocean to Asia and Eastern Europe. By 6:05 am PST (14:00 GMT), the Moon will be fully engulfed in red light.
The eclipse is just deepest before dawn in the western U.S. In order to see it, face west to see a large red moon sinking into the horizon as the sun rises behind in the east.
Because the full moon is a "low hanging moon", the moon will look extra big because of the illusion. It can't be explained why the moon looks inflated to the human eye in that position since it is no bigger than a high moon as proven by cameras.
The moon appears red because of the layer of dusty air surrounding the Earth turns red and redirects the sunlight. It fills the dark behind Earth with a sunset-red glow. The exact hue (anything from bright orange to blood red is possible) depends on the unpredictable state of the atmosphere at the time of the eclipse.
The lunar eclipse visibility map:
This is the last last lunar eclipse for 2011.
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