Heads up photgraphers and sky watchers
Eyes to the skies for lunar event
Eyes to the skies for lunar event - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Updated Fri Jun 25, 2010 4:44pm AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201006/r590639_3777746.jpg File photo (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)
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Sky watchers in central and eastern Australia will be treated to a lunar eclipse on Saturday night if the weather allows it.
A partial eclipse will start at about a 8:15pm AEST or 7:45pm ACST and end nearly three hours later.
Astronomer David Reneke says a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow.
"You'll see the moon, a little bite being taken out of the side, like when a kid takes a bite out of a biscuit or a cookie," he said.
"You don't need binoculars, you don't need a telescope.
"It won't hurt your eyes - stand there and look at it as long as you want to."
He also says it is easy to take a photo if the partial eclipse is visible from the ground.
"If anyone wants to take a photo of it, it won't be hard to do with an ordinary camera as long as you can set it on a tripod and maybe give it one or two seconds' exposure time you should come up with a nice photo," he said.
