Watch Saturday’s total lunar eclipse on your computer

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Bright and early Saturday morning, people in Asia and Australia and on the western coast of America will be treated to a total eclipse of the moon—the last one until 2014.

You’ll have to wake up early to see it—NASA says a red shadow will start to fall across the moon at 4:45 a.m. PST. By 6:05 a.m. PST, the moon will be totally engulfed in red light.

Red?

Yes, red.

As Dr. Tony Phillips explains in a NASA release, the lunar eclipse will appear red, not black, because a delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet will redirect the light of the sun, filling the darkness behind Earth with a sunset-red glow.

Whether the moon will appear bright orange or blood red or somewhere in between is still up for debate. However, atmospheric scientist Richard Keen of the University of Colorado has hazarded a guess: ‘I expect this eclipse to be bright orange, or even copper-colored, with a possible hint of turquoise at the edge,’ he told NASA.

It all sounds pretty spectacular, but unfortunately, the totality of this eclipse will not be fully visible all over the world. In fact, it will only be visible in its entirety from Australia, Asia and the extreme northwest portion of North America.

But no need to despair—the Internet has come to the rescue.

Slooh, the online Space Camera, plans to broadcast a free, real-time feed of the eclipse from telescopes in Australia, Asia and Hawaii. You can access the feed via Slooh’s homepage, or by downloading the Android app at the Android Market store.

If you watch the lunar eclipse on Slooh, you’ll get the benefit of live narration of the event from astronomer and Slooh editor Bob Berman, who will be joined by guests such as solar researcher Dr. Lucie Green and documentary maker Duncan Copp.

Of course, if you can go outside and see it yourself, you’ll get the benefit of fresh air.

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