Peninsula Daily News news services
NORTH OLYMPIC PENINSULA skywatchers will have the chance to observe a total lunar eclipse early Saturday, if clouds do not block the view.
The partial eclipse will begin at 3:16 a.m., with the total eclipse beginning at 4:58 a.m.
It will reach the point of greatest eclipse at 5 a.m., and the total eclipse will end at 5:03 a.m.
The final phase of the partial eclipse will end at 6:45 a.m.
People planning to get out and watch should note the moon will set at 6:52 a.m., just after the end of the partial eclipse.
Since all this happens around sunrise, we’ll be treated to the unusual sight of a darkened moon setting against a bright sky.
This will be the shortest total eclipse of the moon in the 21st century, less than five minutes.
In comparison, the total lunar eclipse visible in the United States on Oct. 8, 2014, lasted almost 59 minutes.
The moon will be low in the western sky when the eclipse takes place.
Observers should find an unobstructed western view so they can see the total eclipse.
Because during this eclipse the moon will pass completely through the Earth’s dark shadow, or umbra, it will gradually get darker and then take on a rusty or blood-red color.
This will be the third in a series of four so-called “blood moons.”
The final blood moon in the lunar tetrad will be Sept. 28. The first two in the series took place April 15 and Oct. 8, 2014.
The next tetrad will not begin until April 25, 2032.
If the night skies cooperate, viewers will see the bright star Spica near the moon Saturday morning.
And what if you find the sky full of clouds?
Watch the eclipse on the Internet.
The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles will livestream it beginning at 2 a.m.; click on http://tinyurl.com/pdneclipse.
Eclipse party
All are welcome at a full moon-lunar eclipse gathering — with music, dancing and brunch — this Saturday.
“And it’s Easter weekend, so the energies will be amazing,” said Sophia Engkvist, an organizer of the event at the Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 73 Howe Road, in the Agnew area between Port Angeles and Sequim.
The ceremony and celebration will begin at 11 a.m. with a polyphonic meditation, something Engkvist calls “a magical sound journey,” with quartz crystal singing bowls, Tibetan bowls, a gong, chimes, bells, yucca didgeridoos and native flutes.
Participants are invited to bring drums, rattles — and drinking water, as well as cushions for meditation.
“Then we will celebrate,” Engkvist said, “with chanting, toning, drumming and dancing.”
While admission is free, donations will be welcome, she noted.
The gathering will end with an optional potluck brunch, to wrap up by about 1 p.m.
For more information, contact Engkvist at 360-460-7455 or songfire@olympus.net.
Stars and planets
From sunset until about 10 p.m., this month’s western sky features the adventures of Venus, which is now climbing past the winter stars as they sink into the sunset.
Between the 10th and 12th, our brilliant sister planet skirts the Pleiades star cluster.
During the next few days, Venus also passes the V-shaped Hyades cluster and orange Aldebaran, the eye of the constellation Taurus the Bull.
On the 21st, a waxing crescent moon joins the assembly.
High in the south after nightfall, Jupiter, the second-brightest planet in the Peninsula sky, moves to the west-northwest horizon, where it sets at about 3:30 a.m.
Jupiter’s four large moons — the Galilean satellites — can be seen through steadily held binoculars. Use a telescope to see details of Jupiter’s cloudy atmosphere.
The king of planets now resides between the constellation Leo the Lion and the subdued beauty of the Beehive star cluster.
The bright star east of Jupiter is Regulus, the heart of the lion; it anchors the Sickle of stars outlining Leo’s head.
A triangle of stars further east marks the hindquarters and tail.
April is the best month to see Leo, a prancing figure high in the south an hour or two after sunset.
To find the Beehive, grab your binoculars and look west of Jupiter.
The ringed planet Saturn is in Scorpius the Scorpion, where it masquerades as one of claws of this S-shaped constellation.
Saturn can be seen low in the east-southeast at midnight and is highest in the south just before dawn.
A telescope will reveal several of Saturn’s numerous moons and its magnificent ring system.
Just southeast of Saturn, the gigantic red star Antares marks the scorpion’s heart.
Space station
The International Space Station is back over the Peninsula this month, with a three-minute pass Saturday night.
The ISS will appear in the south-southwest at 9:04 p.m., then vanish into Earth’s shadow while still 26 degrees high in the southeast at 9:07 p.m.
There’s a six-minute pass at 8:54 p.m. Monday (southwest to east-northeast), five-minute pass Tuesday at 9:36 p.m. (west to northeast) and a six-minute pass Wednesday at 8:43 p.m. (west-southwest to east-northeast).
In brightness, the space station should easily exceed Jupiter and nearly equal Venus.
For other times and locations in our sky, visit the ISS section of the NASA website, http://tinyurl.com/pdn-spacestation.
You can also sign up there for email alerts on local ISS fly-bys.
Meteors and Beltane
The Lyrid meteor shower peaks the night of the 22nd-23rd.
Meteors will radiate from the east near Vega, the brilliant star in the constellation Lyra the Lyre.
About 10 to 20 meteors per hour are predicted, but the Lyrids occasionally erupt in bursts of close to 100 per hour.
April ends with the Celtic holiday Beltane, now celebrated as May Day.
For the evil spirits that had plagued humankind since Halloween (the Celtic holiday Samhain), the night of April 30 was their last fling before a six-month exile.
Like Samhain, Beltane is a “cross-quarter day,” falling midway between an equinox and a solstice.
The Celts regarded Beltane as the start of the light half of the year.
Spaceflight anniversary
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he made a single orbit of the Earth in his Vostok capsule. Gagarin was 27 when he rocketed to fame and, though lionized by the Soviets, he never flew into space again.
He was killed in 1968 when his MiG jet crashed during a training flight.
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Starwatch is usually published on the first Friday of every month in the print edition of the Peninsula Daily News.
