Nevadans seeking lunar eclipse may see satellite flare

Scott Sonner

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 1:27 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Top billing goes to the lunar eclipse - but northern Nevadans watching for the astronomical event may get a special bonus in the form of a super-bright satellite flare Thursday evening, weather permitting.

The satellite in a low orbit around the Earth should flare at 6:08 p.m. PST, about two-thirds of the way up the northeast sky.

"This flare will be so bright, if you look in that general region of the sky at all, you won't fail to see it," said Arthur Johnson, director of the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.

"It will be many times brighter than Venus," he said Wednesday.

In fact, it could be nearly 100 times brighter than Venus, which is brighter than any star in the sky.

Satellite flares are not unusual, but people typically aren't looking for them and they typically are not as bright when they hit Earth's atmosphere as the one expected Thursday night, Johnson said.

"It will go from being faintly visible, to brighter and brighter to when it fares up and becomes an 'ooohh, ahhh' sort for object for a couple of seconds," he said.

The total amount of time it is visible to the naked eye should be 45 seconds to a minute, he said. But it will arrive in a fairly narrow viewing field, so it may not be visible 30 miles outside of Reno.

The Fleischmann Planetarium on the UNR campus expects as many 1,000 visitors to view the lunar eclipse and perhaps get a glimpse of the satellite.

The nearly full moon will rise soon after sunset. The eclipse - caused by the earth passing between the sun and moon - will begin with a smudge of a shadow starting to darken the disk between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. PST.

After about an hour, observers will see the clearly curved edge of the Earth's shadow creep across the face.

Total eclipse is to begin about 8:05 p.m., hitting mid-eclipse at 8:44 p.m. and ending totality at 9:22 p.m. The entire eclipse is expected to be completed by 11:24 p.m.

During totality, the fully eclipsed moon will remain faintly visible. The last total eclipse of the moon happened in September 1997.

Experienced sky watchers suggest watching for the first signs of darkening as the Earth's shadow advances from the moon's left side. The shadows may carry hints of green, blue or other colors, especially if inspected with binoculars.

A solar eclipse may be more dramatic, but a lunar eclipse is typically more accessible, visible from all parts of North America and South America where the weather cooperates Thursday night.

"You usually have to set out to travel to a certain spot to see a solar eclipse and you have to be careful when you look at it," Johnson said.

"But in the case of a lunar eclipse, it's always safe to use binoculars to look at it," he said.

"This one is just about made for TV, so to speak," Johnson said.

That's the good news. The bad news is the weather forecast.

"It should be spectacular. But chances are not good for seeing it here," KRNV-TV weatherman Dave Finley said in Reno Wednesday.

The National Weather Service is predicting clouds and a chance of snow or rain in the Reno and Lake Tahoe areas Thursday night.