A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, causing our view of the Sun to be blocked. Yesterday’s spectacle was the first in three years – the next is scheduled in the astronomical calendar for November 14, 2012.

New Zealanders first saw the eclipse in the early evening, just before 6:00pm, when the Moon blocked nearly half the Sun. See what all the fuss was about in this stunning footage of the eclipse…

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The Karate Kid download I still remember my dad (ever the adventurer) standing on the lawn with us in 1986 – I’d heaved my gumboots on to gaze skyward, neck aching, hoping to catch a glimpse of Haley’s Comet. To this day, I’m not sure I did actually see the comet (it might have been a smudgy star and it was a cloudy night), but it’s a great memory for what it’s worth. For those of you who share a curiosity about the universe, you’ll be rapt to hear that…

A lunar eclipse will be visible from New Zealand on August 28th!

A lunar eclipse is when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon. When this happens, the sun’s light can’t reach the moon’s surface and the moon enters the Earth’s shadow. Cool, eh? Keep your eyes skywards from around 8:51pm (the actual kick-off time is 7:52pm, but it won’t be visible until later) and stay tuned to the night sky between 9:52pm and 11:23pm, when the moon will be fully eclipsed. During this time, the moon will be a deep, coppery red, as the Earth’s atmosphere casts red light onto the moon’s surface. Take some time to ponder these lunar facts:

• Lunar eclipses can occur as many as three times in a year.
• If you were on the moon, the Earth would block the sun’s light and you’d see the dark Earth, ringed by light.
• Lunar eclipses last a maximum of 3 hours and 40 minutes, with a fully eclipsed time of 1 hour and 40 minutes.
• Lunar eclipses can be predicted using the Saros Cycle.
• Ancient civilizations feared eclipses and saw them as cosmic signs of famine and disease to come.
• Even today, some cultures are superstitious about eclipses (people in the Arctic turn over their utensils to prevent contamination and the Japanese cover their wells so they won’t be poisoned)

Oh, and Christopher Columbus predicted a lunar eclipse in 1504, to impress the native Jamaicans with his power and might, so why not play a trick on one of your more gullible friends? If you want to find out about other amazing things out there in space, visit our NZ astronomy category.