Variations in the sky brightness during a lunar eclipse

Goez Theran, Cristian; Vargas Domnguez, Santiago

doi:10.22128/ijaa.2016.35

Variations in the sky brightness during a lunar eclipse

Authors

¹ Techno-environmental Research Group, Department of Engineering, Universidad Libre, Bogot a, Colombia;

² Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Sede Bogota - Facultad de Ciencias - Observatorio Astronomico - Carrera 45 # 26-85, Bogota - Colombia;

10.22128/ijaa.2016.35

Abstract

A total lunar eclipse is conjectured to have influence on the physical conditions of an environmental area, particularly on the brightness of the sky. The phenomenon might also be relevant on weather parameters change on Earth, such as temperature, humidity and pressure, though a straightforward correlation is not easy to establish. This work mainly aims at measuring the brightness of the sky and also meteorological variables like temperature, humidity, and pressure during the total lunar eclipse that occurred on April 14 and 15, 2014, by using sensors registering the variation of luminance, and a weather station. Analysis of the changes in the sky brightness during all the eclipsing event allows for the observing conditions to be quantified and rated according to various international scales.

Keywords