Tonight should present Louisianans with an ideal view of the lunar eclipse. LSU Astronomy Professor Jeffrey Clayton says the earth will travel between the sun and the moon, and the earth’s shadow should be visible beginning at 9:30 and last a few hours.
“It tends to look unusual, depending on the eclipse can be very dark or sometimes very red,” said Clayton.
In earlier times a lunar eclipse, and a red one at that, was thought to be symbolic of an omen, but Clayton says both solar and lunar eclipses can be forecasted thus removing the folklore often associated with extraordinary celestial events.
“Anything strange in the sky would be upsetting to people if they were not being predicted, the nice thing is that eclipses can be predicted and they’ve been predicted as far back as the Babylonians,” said Clayton.
Clayton says it’s a unique occurrence and he highly recommends making plans to stay up a bit later than usual Sunday night. He says as long as you are in a dark location with few clouds you should be able to enjoy the show and you won’t even need a telescope.
“Obviously it’s quite spectacular when it’s very red, it’s kind of an awesome sight,” said Clayton.