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Red Moon at dawn this week

Australian skywatchers will be lucky to see this week's total lunar eclipse in its full glory, but a Japanese organisation is preparing a live webcast that's promising to make up for that -- technology and weather permitting, of course.

At total eclipse the Moon is greatly dimmed but still usually visible to the naked eye -- often taking on a red-orange hue from sunlight that is filtered and bent by the Earth's atmosphere before it reaches the Moon.

A total lunar eclipse will occur around 4.20am in Western Australia on Wednesday 10th. However, there may be difficulties seeing it because it coincides with dawn.

"As the sun rises, the sky becomes brighter and the moon gets dimmer as it sets and it will be harder to see the eclipse," Dr Jamie Biggs of Perth Observatory told ABC Science Online.

"The best time to see the eclipse is probably about 3.49 am when the Moon is just in the full shadow of the Earth and the sky background isn't very bright."

Those in Eastern Australia will only glimpse the first 12 minutes of the eclipse before the Moon sets at 5.54am.

No matter where you are, though, you have a chance of seeing a good version of the eclipse live on the web.

A non-profit Japanese organisation called LIVE! ECLIPSE is preparing to take advantage of their position to bring a good version of the eclipse to web watchers worldwide. At Japan's longitude, the Moon will be relatively higher above the horizon at maximum eclipse, and being winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun will rise relatively later.

"This total lunar eclipse will be visible in Japan at daybreak in the western sky," says LIVE! ECLIPSE. "As the dark-red moon goes down, the colour of the sky will change gradually to vivid blue. As befits the first major astronomical event of the 21st century, the scene will be very beautiful."

Camera, music, action!

LIVE! ECLIPSE plans to make use of a super-high-speed network, the Japan Gigabit Network (JGN) to gather images observed throughout Japan, edit and combine them into one image. Both real-time video and still images will be available.

And like any production, it would not be complete without music.

"The theme song "Tears of Eos" played by a Japanese Jazz group, will be also available in audio file to enhance enjoyment of the live program," says LIVE! ECLIPSE.

The organisation reports that the total lunar eclipse will also be accompanied by a star eclipse - in which a fixed star will be hidden by the moon.

"The sun, the earth, the moon and star will be in a straight line in the dawn sky. We are now working every day to bring you a smooth webcast. All that is left is to pray for fine weather on the big day," it says.

Viewers will need RealPlayer 8, Windows Media Player 7 or QuickTime Player 4 to receive the webcast.

The corporate-sponsored LIVE!ECLIPSE is made up of amateur astronomers, astronomical observatories, network engineers, students and individuals, and is headed by Masami Okyudo, director of Misato Observatory, who specialises in using the Internet to promote astronomy.

Since March 1997 the organisation has carried out live broadcasts of eight astronomical events, including solar and lunar eclipses and the Leonid meteor storm.