The Moon, the Moon

The eclipse of the moon will start from 7.22 pm. Copyright: Andrew Eick

The eclipse will be visible in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice and all other cities in France.

The darkness should start to slowly descend at 7.22pm with the Moon totally covered in the Earth's shadow between 8.22 and 10.02pm.

To begin with the full Moon will turn yellowish and then appear to turn blood red then rusty grey, the shades depending on the atmospheric conditions on Earth.

Particularly fascinating about this latest lunar eclipe is that it is of the relatively rare central variety, with the moon passing through the center line of the Earth's shadow.

The last eclipse of this nature was back in July 2000 and the next one will be seven years from now.

Fortunately many people will have the chance to catch the incredible lunar event as the eclipse will be visible across Europe, East Africa, Central Asia and South America.

There are a list of observatories that will be opened during the eclipse, among them the Astrorama in Èze and the Observatoire de Nice.

Astrorama will be running a special soirée during the eclipse, a definite must see!

It takes place from 7pm, and is subjected to registration.

Those, who cannot seem to find the time to come on this day, have another opportunity to attend one of the many other events run by Astrorama this summer.

Every Friday and Saturday there is a "Soirée ciel ouvert" with special presentations, a planetarium projection and an astro-café.

In addition, there are other interesting line-ups for July among them a number of special themed nights and conferences. For example, on the 6th of July, there is a conference on the importance of satellites ("Les satellites sert à quoi ça, combien ça coût").

Astrorama de La Trinité
Route de la Revère
06360 Eze
04 93 85 85 58
http://www.astrorama.net