March 15 eclipse to be seen in RP

Rise at moonset, and catch the moon cross the earth’s shadow to the southwest.

A penumbral eclipse visible in the country on the night of March 15 will also be visible in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, according to astronomer Elmor Escosia of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

"The eclipse begins when the moon enters penumbra at 5:21 a.m. and ends at 10:13 a.m. However, the moon sets at 6:07 a.m., so the rest of the event can no longer be seen in the country," Escosia said.

He added that the penumbral eclipse can be seen in the southwest as the full moon is setting at this time in that part of the early morning sky.

During the eclipse, the moon, which completes its orbit of the earth every 29.5 days, will be directly opposite the sun in the sky and will pass part of the earth’s shadow, or penumbra.

"The outer penumbral shadow is the zone where the earth blocks part, but not all, of the sun’s rays from reaching the moon," Escosia said. "On the other hand, the inner or umbral shadow is a region where the earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the moon."

It is during the passage of the moon through the penumbral shadow that the discoloration of its face is observed — the moon’s face literally appears to turn red.

Escosia said the March 15 eclipse is the first of two lunar eclipses that will take place this year. The other lunar eclipse takes place on Sept. 7 and will be visible in Europe, Africa and Australia.

He added that a total solar eclipse will take place on March 29.

"The (solar) eclipse will begin at exactly 3:36 p.m., Philippine Standard Time," Escosia said.

During the solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow will sweep over the world — beginning in Brazil and going on through the Atlantic Ocean, Africa’s Gold Coast, the Sahara desert, Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, the Black Sea, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the northern shores of the Caspian Sea, Kazahkstan and ending its journey in Mongolia, Escosia said.

The duration of the solar eclipse’s totality will be less than two minutes near the sunrise and sunset limits, but it may last as long as four minutes and seven seconds in Libya at the moment of greatest eclipse, he added.

The Philippines will miss the total solar eclipse, though many Filipinos may have missed yet another celestial phenomenon, Escosia said: "We already missed (the passage) of Comet Pojmanski, which was discovered on Jan.. 2, 2006 by (Polish astronomer) Grzegorz Pojmanski as he was scanning the sky at the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory in Poland."

Comet Pojmanski was visible in the Philippine sky at dawn from Feb. 27 to March 9 and local astronomers and night sky watchers were able to observe it with the use of binoculars.

After March 9, Comet Pojmanski sped back into space, beyond the limits of the Milky Way. — Felix de los Santos