Two Sky Events This Week

Two events are set to happen this week in the sky.

Total lunar eclipse (Aug 28, 2007):
A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the early morning of Tuesday, August 28, 2007. The event is widely visible from the United States and Canada as well as South America, the Pacific Ocean, western Asia and Australia but not from Africa or Europe. During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon’s disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

The total phase of the eclipse will last one hour and 30 minutes, making this a much longer than normal totality.

Check this map to see whether this eclipse can be watched from your location on the Earth.

Viewer’s Guide: Tuesday Morning’s Lunar Eclipse

Aurigid Meteor (2000-year-old) Shower (Sept 1, 2007):
A very rare shower will occur on 1st Sept, 2007. A brief shower of tens of meteors will radiate from the constellation of Auriga, many as bright as the brighter stars in the sky. The Earth will be in the thick of it during the one hour centered on 04:33 a.m. PDT. The shower will be visible by the naked eye from locations in the western United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, from Mexico, and from the western provinces of Canada.

If you spot one of those meteors, you may be only the fourth person alive who is known to have seen this meteor shower. In recent times, the shower was spotted in 1994 by two observers and in 1986 by one observer.
If you are lucky enough to catch a picture of an Aurigid meteor using your digital camera, you will be the very first to do so.
Tips on how to observe meteors and where to report the results can be found at: http://aurigid.seti.org

Read more about is here: Space.com, NASA

If somebody lucky enough to catch a glimpse of these events please post your experience here. and please share if you manage to click a picture of any of these events.

Update:

Check the photos of the Aurigid shower here.