Total lunar eclipse Wednesday

Photo courtesy Nasa.gov

By Maya Strausberg

February 19, 2008

Numerous Bay Area groups will offer the public a unique view of Wednesday's total lunar eclipse when the moon passes into the Earth's shadow.

Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science will have telescopes in the plaza and amateur astronomers on hand to answer any questions from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Lawrence Hall of Science is located on Centennial Drive below Grizzly Peak. For more information on the free event, call (510) 642-5132 or go to http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org.

The Livermore Area Recreation and Park District invites people to take a peak at the eclipse through telescopes that will be set up at Sycamore Grove Park between 7 and 9 p.m.

The fee for the evening is $5 and there will be warm drinks available when it gets cold.

Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent. Registration is required by calling (925) 373-5705 or going to http://www.larpd.dst.ca.us.

Arc Ecology North Bay is holding an event called Moon Over Mare Island, which will take people to the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve to view the eclipse from a hilltop vantage point from 6:30 to 9 p.m. with Rick Meleski and Arc Ecology's Volunteer North Bay Projects Manager Myrna Hayes.

Anyone interested in the free event can meet at the preserve entrance at 6:30 p.m. to carpool to the top of the hill. For more information, call Hayes at (707) 249-9633.

Oakland's Chabot Space and Science Center will host an eclipse party from 5 to 8 p.m. that will include hands-on activities, live planetarium shows, an eclipse hike and viewing from the observatory deck.

Advance reservations are required and tickets can be purchased by calling the Chabot box office at (510) 336-7373. Adult tickets are $10; youth, seniors and students pay $8 and members pay $5.

The eclipse will begin at 7:01 p.m. and the moon will reappear in the sky at 7:51 p.m. The next total lunar eclipse will be in December of 2010.

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