Orkney experiences lunar eclipse

Lunar Eclipse

Because the moon shines by reflecting from the sun, lunar eclipses occur when the Moon moves into Earth's shadow and the light from the sun is blocked out.

Because the Moon orbits the earth at a slightly tilted angle, it passes above or below the Earth's shadow most of the year but on some occasions the full Moon enters the dark shadow behind the earth and is eclipsed - this is what happens tonight.

Depending on the amount of dust in the Earth's atmosphere, the Moon could turn a coppery red colour, illuminated as it is by sunlight refracted by the Earth.

The Moon will enter the Earth's outer shadow (penumbra) at 5.43pm, getting progressively darker as it reaches the darker inner shadow (umbra) at 6.42pm. By this time the Moon could start turning coppery, an orange crescent gradually spreading across its surface and covering it for about an hour.

The Moon will remain within the umbra until 9.59pm

Full eclipse times are as follows:

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS)

The visibility of the space station varies from day to day as seen from any location on Earth. From Orkney the station will appear to travel from West to East but again the duration of visibility and the path taken alter for each transit. The craft takes 91.88 minutes to orbit the Earth at a mean altitude of 366.5 Km.

But, of course, whether or not it will be visible will depend upon the time of day (evening is the most favourable time) a transit takes place. The brightness varies considerably too, sometimes appearing almost as bright as Venus (at present, near maximum), at others not much brighter than the Pole Star.