Total Lunar Eclipse Sponsored By Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

If you are rolling on the floor laughing after looking at the title of this news post… well, let me tell you… it’s actually true.

Today a total Lunar Eclipse is taking place at the very moment we are speaking. It is the first of two total such eclipses in 2011.

And guess what? It’s clear that marketing guys at Paramount is taking full advantage of it; Advertising the upcoming final Michael Bay Transformers Live Action Movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

If you are listening to the worldwide live webcast of the event, the broadcast is sponsored by the movie.

Read the Press Release after the break...

Update: For the astro lovers... an image taken from the Full Eclipse after the jump:

NEW YORK, NY, June 15, 2011 — In an ongoing mission to share a live view of the universe, Slooh, the online Space Camera, in collaboration with Google will broadcast a live feed of today’s total lunar eclipse from Dubai, South Africa and Cyprus starting at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT.

Stargazers all over the world are invited to simultaneously watch the total lunar eclipse unfold in what is expected to be the largest audience ever assembled for a celestial event. The lunar eclipse will be broadcast in its entirety over a four-hour period, with the total eclipse of the moon to occur at 3:13pm EDT. The live feed can be accessed at Slooh’s Mission Interface on the web and also as a featured video stream on Google’s channel on YouTube.

Today’s coverage of the lunar eclipse builds on the announcement in October 2010 that used Slooh’s imagery in the sky layer of Google Earth. The digital images of celestial objects are captured by Slooh members with Slooh’s patented instant imaging technology and are automatically uploaded to Sky in Google Earth to share with the world. On December 20, 2010 Google and Slooh collaborated for the first time to broadcast a total lunar eclipse through Sky in Google Earth.

“Broadcasting the lunar eclipse online in collaboration with Google creates the power to touch all of humanity at once,” said Michael Paolucci, Founder of Slooh. “It’s an opportunity to celebrate our commonality, and appreciate a moment of global synchronicity. Internet technology makes this possible like never before in human history.”

Nationally renowned astronomer Bob Berman will host the four-hour spectacle with live audio narration starting at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT. He will be joined by several guests throughout the show, including Duncan Copp, a presenter for BBC and National Geographic and director-producer of many astronomy films and TV shows including “In the Shadow of the Moon”, an award-wining film about the Apollo astronauts. To listen to the audio narration and capture live photographic images of the lunar eclipse with the Slooh Space Camera, go to Slooh.com and sign up for a Slooh Commander membership.

Slooh is also announcing the launch of a new Android app for its eclipse coverage, making it the first time a live celestial event will be broadcast to a mobile device. The free app shows Android phone users major celestial happenings as they occur and delivers multiple live feeds of outer space directly to Android phones. Users can also capture and share their own space photos. The app is available for free download in the Android Market.

The total eclipse of the moon will begin at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT on June 15 and will only be visible to the naked eye throughout Africa, Europe and the Central Asia. Slooh and Google’s online broadcast of the eclipse will make viewing possible for people in North America and the rest of the world.

Slooh’s broadcast of the lunar eclipse is sponsored by Paramount Pictures TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, the third film in the franchise and the first shot in 3D. It is directed by Michael Bay, written by Ehren Kruger and produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. The movie opens worldwide on June 29, 2011. © 2011 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.

HASBRO, TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. ©2011 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

Starwatch: Lunar eclipse

Wednesday's total eclipse of the Moon may be the most striking for years but observers in Britain must be content with a view of only the closing act of the drama. The Moon stands over the southern Indian Ocean as it passes through the central dark umbra of the Earth's shadow, plunging deeper into the shadow than during any eclipse since 2000. This may well result in an unusually dark eclipse, with the Moon's disc turning a deep reddish-brown as all direct sunlight is blocked.

In fact, the umbra is never black. A little light must reach the Moon from the parts of the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, that are not hidden by the Earth. But more sunlight is refracted and scattered around the edge of the Earth by our planet's atmosphere. Just as sunsets and sunrises appear orange or red, so this light is predominantly red.

The umbra is not illuminated evenly, though, since less of this indirect light penetrates to its core and the amount reaching different zones of the umbra is affected by varying atmospheric conditions. In particular, dust thrown up by major volcanic eruptions can render the atmosphere less transparent and the eclipsed Moon so dark that it practically disappears.

Our image shows the previous total lunar eclipse as viewed from Florida last December. On that occasion, the Moon traversed the northern part of the umbra and its southern regions, which just missed the shadow's core, are relatively dark. This week, the Moon passes about a half Moon's-breadth farther southwards with respect to the shadow, so it will be interesting to discover just how dark and colourful it appears.

Wednesday's eclipse begins when the Moon's eastern limb begins to enter the penumbra of the Earth's shadow at 18:25 BST. While within the penumbra, some direct sunlight falls on the Moon but little darkening of the disc will be noticed until a few minutes before the Moon begins to enter the umbra at 19:23. Totality, with the Moon entirely within the umbra, lasts from 20:22 until 22:03 with mid eclipse at 21:13. The Moon's W limb has withdrawn from the umbra by 23:02 and finally exits the penumbra at 00:01.

For Britain, other than the far NW, the Moon rises in the SE during the latter half of totality. Observers in SE England may just glimpse the end of totality, but most of us may see nothing until it begins to emerge from the umbra. From London and Manchester, for example, the Moon stands less than 5° and 3° high respectively at 22:03 BST, with the Sun only a little way below the NW horizon and the sky brightly twilit. The Moon should be more obvious another 5° higher in a darker sky by 23:02.