Did you know that there's a total lunar eclipse promised for the early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug. 28? And Milwaukeeans will be able to see this event that can be spotted from a fixed point on Earth only once every two or three years.
Lunar eclipses occur twice yearly, but they can't be seen from everywhere on Earth. Of the three kinds of eclipse, the total eclipse is the most exciting and that's what's on tap here.
"The Moon will be passing through the deep part of Earth's shadow -- very close to a perfect bull's-eye as far as eclipses go,” explains Bob Bonadurer, director of the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Daniel M. Soref Planetarium. “Once it slides into the shadow, the Moon will glow a copper-red color due to sunlight being refracted by Earth’s atmosphere."
If you want to check it out -- be forewarned it takes place from 4-6:15 a.m! -- there are four places where the Soref Planetarium will host "Eclipse Blitz" events:
- Daniel M. Soref Planetarium: 800 W. Wells St.,Gary E. Sampson Planetarium at Wauwatosa West High School: 11400 W. Center St.
- Manfred Olson Planetarium at UW-Milwaukee: 1900 E Kenwood Blvd.,
- Charles Z. Horwitz Planetarium at the Retzer Nature Center: S14 W28167 Madison St., Waukesha
The events begin at 4 a.m. and admission is free. Astronomy experts will be on hand to answer questions and man special viewing stations. There will also be planetarium shows and models that explain eclipses.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
