Interesting events in the sky occurred on Thursday, June 16, 2011 early this morning: a total lunar eclipse. This phenomenon can be seeing all over in Indonesia. In Jakarta, for example, clear skies make the total lunar eclipse visible with the naked eye.
Total lunar eclipse that occurred early this morning, including special. The longest in this year. Previously, a research professor of astronomy and astrophysics from the Institute of Aviation and Space Agency, Thomas Djamaluddin said the total lunar eclipse duration ranging from partial lunar eclipse start to finish, 3 hours 20 minutes, i.e. from at 1:22 am - 5:02 am.
Apart from enjoying the interesting natural phenomena, total lunar eclipse is an opportunity to know the quality of the upper atmosphere (stratosphere above 5,000 meters from earth's surface) which may have been 'contaminated' by the accumulation of volcanic dust.
The reason is volcanic dust that reached the upper atmosphere, can last for years. For example, the Mount Pinatubo eruption that occurred in 1991 and took hundreds people killed, volcanic dust last up to two years.
Djamal said the quality of the atmosphere could be measured by looking at the brightness of the color line between the shadows of the earth with the light of the moon. When the color of moonlight looks bright and firm, then the quality of the atmosphere is better. However, if the color is darker, the atmosphere qualities are worse.
Djamal said after of Mount Tambora eruption in 1815 that killed about 100 thousand people, a layer of earth’s atmosphere covered with volcanic ash until some time so that when the total lunar eclipse, the line between the shadow of the earth with the light of the moon dark and diffuse.
