Lunar Eclipse Tonight; Entertainment News
O'BRIEN: In the news right now. Katherine Harris may have been attacked. Police say Barry Seltzer told them he was exercising his political expression when he allegedly swerved his car near Harris and a group her supporters in Sarasota last night. The former Florida secretary of state, Harris is now a Congresswoman campaigning for a second term. Devoted husband, or cold blood killer? The jury closer to deciding the case of Scott Peterson. Next hour, the prosecution will begin its rebuttal, meaning the sensational five month trial is winding down. Deliberations to begin one week from today. More revelations about those missing weapons in Iraq. Chief U.S. Weapons Inspector Charles Duelfer says he called for the powerful explosives to be destroyed back in '95. He was working for UNSCOM, the U.N.'s weapons inspection agency for Iraq. Duelfer says the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, ignored his warning. And no deal in talks over Iran's nuclear program. European negotiators failed to persuade Tehran to stop enriching uranium, a key step for making nuclear energy and potentially weapons. A British government official says there will be more talks soon.</s>WHITFIELD: Negotiators in Congress say it's not likely that legislation aimed at protecting America against another terrorist attack will pass by Election Day. Talks have been ongoing on some of the recommendations by the 9/11 Commission. Apparently, there is an impasse over how much authority to give a new national intelligence director. Family members are calling on Congress to act.</s>DOLLETTE LAFUENTE, HUSBAND KILLED IN 9/11 ATTACKS: We are prepared to wait until after the election, and I think that that is important that we are prepared to wait. These provisions are so important in this bill. They are worth waiting for; they are worth fighting for.</s>WHITFIELD: Talks on the bill are expected to continue throughout the week -- Miles?</s>O'BRIEN: News across America now -- no waiting in line for federal workers wanting a flu shot. The government says employees will be able to get free shots starting next week, but the vaccine will only be given to those falling within government guidelines -- pregnant women, chronically ill, and some workers 65 and older. A landmark anniversary for the New York City subway, celebrating its 100th anniversary today. Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki marked the day by riding vintage subway cars to 42nd Street. Wonder if they had any vintage graffiti. The legal struggle over a Picasso painting stolen by Nazis during World War II now in federal court. The dispute involves the grandson of a Jewish woman who sent the painting to a Paris gallery for safe keeping and an art collector who bought it 29 years ago in New York. Follow that one. The federal government has claimed custody of the painting until the dispute is settled. Well,from Alaska to Afghanistan, half the world will be gazing up at the skies tonight, and we're told it's going to be worth it -- weather permitting, that is. You'll be able to see a total lunar eclipse. And that's when the Earth's shadow consumes a blood red moon. We can show you the diagram very quickly right there, sun, Earth, moon -- and the moon, thus, in the shadow. Joining me live from Miami, Jack Horkheimer. He is executive director of the Miami Museum of Science. And of course, you've seen him on TV. The show is called "Star Gazer." Jack, always a great pleasure to see you.</s>JACK HORKHEIMER, ASTRONOMER, MIAMI PLANETARIUM: My pleasure, Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get to it right away. I want to show people just a basic graphic of when and where they should be watching, and what the moon will be doing as they watch. Very straightforward here -- the moon will move from the right part of your screen to the left part of your screen, kind of on a diagonal. What's going to happen as it does that, Jack?</s>HORKHEIMER: Well, the Earth's shadow is going to slowly start to cover the moon. Start watching around 9:14 Eastern time or extrapolate to your local time zone. For about the next hour or so, you'll see that curved shadow of the Earth -- which, incidentally, is one of the earliest visual proofs the Greeks use to prove that the Earth is a sphere. You'll see the shadow slowly pass over the moon. The moon will darken noticeably. It will go from bright white to kind of grayish and then brownish. And then when totality starts, when the moon is fully immersed inside the dark part of the shadow, that starts around 10:24 or so to 11:45, the moon will be completely in the Earth's shadow and will turn some unpredictable shade of reddish orange. Now, people ask why -- why does it turn color? And the simple reason is is that our Earth's atmosphere acts like a giant lens. And the red light from the sun, sunsets and sunrises, it's bent into the Earth's shadow. And that it actually goes to the moon, bounces to the moon, and then bounces back to Earth again. And so, there's always some reddish orange light in our Earth's shadow cone. If you think of it this way, when you look at the moon tonight when it looks like, I think like kind of a pumpkin copper orange, a jack-o'-lantern color tonight, you're actually seeing the color from all the sunrises and sunsets occurring all around the Earth simultaneously. And what's fascinating, if you could stand on the moon tonight during totality and look back at our earth, our Earth would be eclipsing the sun. You'd see a black Earth with a red ring around it, which is the red light of sunrises and sunsets.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. Couple thoughts here. We want to point out to folks, because I had a lot of questions about this, they say: Can you look at a moon during an eclipse? It's not like looking at the sun during a solar eclipse. Just the opposite -- you're looking away from the sun. No problem taking a look at it. Question for you is I've been told one of the best places to watch this would be darkened Yankee Stadium. Of course, this could be an omen, don't you think, potentially for the Red Sox, right?</s>HORKHEIMER: Well, no, because the color red goes either way for the Red Sox or for the Cardinals. And the moon doesn't have any -- doesn't play favorites. I just think it will be interesting that if it does clear up over Busch Stadium tonight in St. Louis, we'll probably see shots of the moon, and it may become the world's most widely live televised eclipse of the moon in history. I'm crossing my fingers, because last night during game three I saw a few shots of the moon, and tonight maybe we'll get an opening in the clouds and actually see the eclipse high overhead during the fourth game.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, Jack Horkheimer, time now for your custom well-known worldwide known sigout.</s>HORKHEIMER: Keep looking up!</s>O'BRIEN: All right. We'll see you, Jack. Always a pleasure. Thanks for dropping by.</s>WHITFIELD: Very fun. Well, Wal-Mart is apparently choosing sides this political season. Straight ahead, we'll find out which candidates the discount chain is supporting and why. Also, when it comes to picking the president, this woman goes way back. She's got stories dating back to Herbert Hoover. And Rod Stewart is making headlines again. Sibila Vargas will have details coming up.