The Total Solar Eclipse of 14 November 2012 will only be visible by a slither of land mass cutting through the tip of North Queensland (right over Cairns) in Australia for a period of between 2 minutes 4 seconds. The longest part of the Total Solar Eclipse will occur over the middle of the South Pacific Ocean and will last over 4 minutes.
You will note when searching the 2012 Eclipse that most references will feature the date as being the 13th of November. This is Universal Time. In Universal time, the total eclipse starts in Northern Australia at 20:35:08 UT on November 13 (November 14 Australian Time), and ends in the South Pacific off South America at 23:48:24 UT on November 13. The maximum eclipse is at 22:11:48 UT on November 13, when the total phase will last just over 4 minutes.
The partial eclipse will be visible over much of Australia, all of New Zealand and the South Pacific between 19:37:58 UT on November 13 and 00:45:34 UT on November 13.
This is the deepest and darkest lunar eclipse until 2029.
Sunset is at 7:57pm (local daylight saving time) and the Moon starts its trip across the Earth's umbra at 9:22pm, beginning totality at 10:22pm and reaching its deepest and darkest at 11:12pm. Totality concludes at 12:03am, and the truly hardy can ride the Moon out of Earth's umbra at 1:02am. Our location at the Oberoi Mena House is THE place to be--it is the closest hotel to the Pyramids and they and the eclipsed Moon will be to our south giving us a beautiful view of the blood red eclipsed Moon hovering over the Pyramids. It also gives us easy access to our rooms to take a break as the eclipse slowly evolves.
Before the eclipse begins, Prof. Schneider will present a lecture on Lunar Eclipses and the Discovery that the Earth is Round. We will repeat some experiments during the eclipse to see how ancient Greek astronomers learned that the Earth is a sphere (no, Columbus didn't discover this!) and determined the relative size of the Earth and Moon. We will make telescopic observations of the Moon and other objects in its vicinity. A tripod is recommended for cameras if you want to do some nighttime photography of the Moon and pyramids.
