Red moon not to be visible in UAE, wait for the meteor storm

A total lunar eclipse on Tuesday, April 15 — the first in 2014 — will leave UAE residents entirely unaffected, as the sighting of the phenomenon called Red Moon won’t be visible from this part of the earth.

India will see it. Egypt will see it. China, America, even parts of Africa will get to see the red moon. Here, even for people with high-end telescopes, it’ll be business as usual with the moon simply passing in the shadow of the earth. The total phase will last 78 minutes.

According to the Nasa website, the eclipse is “well placed for observers throughout the Western Hemisphere”. The website says: “The entire event is visible from both North and South America. Observers in the western Pacific miss the first half of the eclipse because it occurs before the moon rises. Likewise most of Europe and Africa experience moonset just as the eclipse begins. None of the eclipse is visible from north/east Europe, eastern Africa, the Middle East or Central Asia.”

The eclipse occurs at the lunar orbit’s ascending node in Virgo.

Hasan Ahmad Al Hariri, CEO of the 3,000 member strong Dubai Astronomy Club, says it’s “nothing special” for star gazers here, and that people need to keep “cool and calm”, especially superstition mongers who believe in the so-called disruptive powers of the moon. “Weak-hearted people take these issues very seriously and get influenced,” says Hariri. “It’s simply a matter of the sun being behind the earth. The sun’s rays scatter through the atmosphere and a reddish spectrum occurs. That’s your moon.”

For people truly interested in celestial occurrences, the event to watch out for is on May 22. Something that hasn’t happened in over a century; two words: meteor storm. When you learn of something like 1,000 meteors flying per hour, even a red moon, in comparison is a bit pale.

For more info log on to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2014.html, and www.dubaiastronomy.com

nivriti@khaleejtimes.com