Lunar eclipse happening this month

Tuesday’s Planetarium show, titled “Mars Up-Close and a Lunar Eclipse,” brought viewers into the galaxy to view both the moon and Mars in stunning clarity and detail.

The majority of the show was spent exploring the geography of Mars, while giving sufficient coverage to the upcoming lunar eclipse that comes late on April 14 and continues into the early hours of the morning of the 15th.

Pat Hanrahan, Planetarium director, said we are in the perfect location in Oregon to see the eclipse for ourselves: “We can see the whole total eclipse… We couldn’t be in a better place.”

A short informational video on lunar eclipses from NASA on YouTube was played to explain the science behind an eclipse and what we can expect to see as it occurs.

After orbiting the moon using the digital system and learning about eclipses, the full focus of the show shifted to the red planet.

Hanrahan said many observers find Mars to be “a very interesting planet,” since for a long time, there was thought to be life there. He illustrated this by discussing examples of books and movies over the years that play on this concept, such as “War of the Worlds,” by Orson Welles and “Mars Attacks!”

Next came a virtual tour of Mars, which included the views from the North and South Poles, various craters and volcanoes and the Valles Marineris, which is larger than the Grand Canyon. There are polar ice caps on top of the North Pole, which were clearly evident, but not on the South Pole, as it sits at a higher elevation and there is not enough atmosphere in which to form condensation (with water).

The Gale Crater is a major landmark on Mars, and was a part of the tour of the planet. It is thought that a long, long time ago, there was a lot of water there. Because of this, NASA’s unmanned Curiosity rover is currently there exploring.

The Opposition of Mars, or when the planet is ”opposite from the sun” (as viewed from Earth) was also a topic of the night. During opposition, Mars will be brightest in the southern sky at midnight.

Olympus Mons is one of Mars’ most famous features, as it is the biggest volcano on Mars and in the solar system, and is three times the height of Mt. Everest. The base of the volcano alone is the size of Arizona.

The second part of the tour of Mars showed the exact parts where spacecraft have previously landed. One such craft, the Pathfinder, is “almost like a little car,” said Hanrahan.

Throughout the tour, the music was particularly enjoyable and the images provided insight into what the planet really looks like.

As usual, the evening ended with the Galaxy Song.

Planetarium shows take place on the first Tuesday of every month. The cost is $2 for the general public and free for students and staff. Show times are at 6:00, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m.