Watch the Dawn Eclipse of the Moon, Dec. 10, 2011
Credit: Sky & Telescope photo by Richard Tresch Fienberg
If you’re anywhere in central or western North America, mark your calendar to get up before dawn this Saturday, December 10, 2011. That morning the full Moon goes through its last total eclipse until 2014.
The farther west you are in the U.S. or Canada, the better you’ll be set up for the show. If you’re in the Pacific time zone you can watch the Moon slip into Earth’s shadow completely, while the Moon is sinking low in the west-northwestern sky and dawn is brightening. In the Pacific Northwest and westernmost Canada, you can even see the Moon start to emerge from our planet’s shadow after the total eclipse is over — until moonset and sunrise end the show.
From roughly Arizona to the Dakotas, the Moon sets while it’s still totally eclipsed — though horizon obstructions and the brightening dawn may end your view somewhat before then.
