(Photo series by Ver Penaranda: Stages of the Moon in Total Eclipse)
LOS ANGELES: Early morning of August 28, 2007. As the moon moved through the shadow of the Earth, Skygazers across the nation were treated to the first lunar eclipse visible from North America in four years (since weather covered the last lunar eclipse of May 15-16, 2003)-- if they were lucky enough to have the weather cooperate.
Initially, it was difficult to make out the darkened moon as it rose through haze hanging over Los Angeles. "It's over there -- it's the schmutz in the sky,'' said Kara Knack, 58, a member of Friends of the Observatory, a Griffith Observatory support group. The view was sharper through the more than dozen telescopes that amateur astronomers set up on the Griffith Park lawn.
The moon remained totally eclipsed for 53 minutes as seen from North America. West Coast Photographer Ver Penaranda stayed up at the peak of the eclipse at around 3 a.m. Los Angeles time.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes into the shadow of the Earth and is blocked from the direct sunlight that normally illuminates it. During an eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, leaving a darkened moon visible to everyone on the night side of the planet.
The Moon does not go totally black, however. Some indirect sunlight still reaches the moon after passing through the Earth's atmosphere. Since the atmosphere filters out blue light, the indirect light that does reach the moon paints it red or orange, as it did early Tuesday.
Lunar eclipses are safe to view with the naked eye, unlike solar eclipses, which are also far briefer. Tuesday's eclipse was the first visible across North America since May 2003. It also was visible from South and Central America, as well as western Europe and Africa. West Coast Photographer Ver Penaranda took these series of great photographs of the moon covered by the Earth's shadow. Awesome. Enjoy these photos. The next total lunar eclipse will not occur til February 21, 2008 but Angelenos will only be able to view it briefly before dawn.