TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Start Halloween week with a spooky lunar eclipse at 8 p.m. on Oct. 27. Watch for ghosts and goblins in the nighttime skies as Dr. Ray White, professor of astronomy at The University of Alabama, leads the viewing on the rooftop of Gallalee Hall.

Lunar eclipses are slow celestial events, and it will take several hours for the eclipse to move through the Earth’s shadow.

According to Dr. Bill Keel, professor of astronomy, lunar eclipses have an honorable place in history. The fact that the Earth’s shadow on the moon is always a piece of a circle convinced Greek thinkers that the Earth is round.

“Lunar eclipses provide a way for us to study the history of the Earth’s climate and volcanic eruptions at times and places where no one was nearby to report,” Keel said. “The color and darkness of the moon as it sits in the Earth’s shadow are affected by how much the sunrise and sunset parts of the Earth are cloudy and by how much volcanic dust is in the air.”

This is the last viewing of the fall semester and the last viewing through the 10-inch refracting telescope, which has been in use since the summer of 1950. The telescope will be replaced by a new state-of-the art telescope in the coming weeks.

Gallalee Hall is located on the UA campus near the intersection of Hackberry Lane and University Boulevard. Contact UA’s department of physics and astronomy at 205/348-5050 to check on sky conditions and for more information. Cloudy conditions are not conducive to star gazing.

The department of physics and astronomy is housed in The College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state with 6,600 students and 360 faculty. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.