Partial lunar eclipse to dominate sky

[June 26, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Attention skygazers: A portion of the moon will cross into the Earth's shadow Saturday during a partial lunar eclipse visible in the western United States and Canada, the Pacific and eastern Asia.

For West Coast viewers, the eclipse will occur in the pre-dawn hours. It will begin at 3:17 a.m. PDT and end about three hours later.

During a lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks out some of the sun's rays that would normally reach the moon. Slightly more than half of the moon's surface will be shaded at the eclipse's peak.

Saturday's partial eclipse is a preview to the total lunar eclipse in December that will be visible throughout North America.

___

Online:

NASA eclipse page: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.