Get ready -- lunar eclipse tonight!

[applestar]

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/luna ... ptember-28

...Unfortunately, weather may not cooperate for us here, but hoping for a chance to glimpse the beginning of the eclipse between 9-10PM if the cloud cover breaks up a little.

Check your local time for the eclipse -- stages are clearly explained at the link above. Don't trust the news -- my mom read about it in a major newspaper and the time mentioned was the totality -- she would have missed the entire first half of the show if she'd gone outside at that time.

[gumbo2176]

Unfortunately, our skies are full of black clouds as rain is in our forecast for the next couple days here too. Every once in a while there is a clearing and a small window of blue, but they are so few and far between that I feel it will be a lesson in futility trying to see this event.

Better luck next time----------------------if I live long enough. LOL

[applestar]

Went outside for the second time and managed to see the eclipsed moon with DDs -- watched from approx 3/4 moon to 1/2 moon between scudding clouds and through veil of high level overcast. Definitely reducing the impact of the occasion, though.

Usually, the sensations I enjoy are the greater awareness of the 3-dimensionality and distance between the Sun and the Earth and the Moon, and the tidal forces as the three objects line up. The moon also looks more like a sphere, rather than a flat shiny disk in the sky during total eclipse. I think you really don't get that from looking at phots and videos taken by other people. It's like the difference between live performance vs. recorded.

I hope folks who can, are enjoying the spectacle.

[webmaster]

We all went out to the town center and sat on the church steps to watch the eclipse. Quite exciting. I figured this was an important enough event for my daughter to stay up past her bed time.

[digitS']

I missed the first few minutes of the eclipse because it was below my horizon. The horizon was clear and that was certainly appreciated after our smoky summer.

The closeness to the horizon, plus the 14% larger/closer, did make it a lovely eclipse.

Gorgeous moon this morning ... before dawn.

Steve

[sweetiepie]

Marlingardener, yours at least looks orange. I was sort of disappointed. It was my first lunar eclipse and the moon was dark with a little bit of an orange tint but mostly just dimmer. It was a beautiful night here though. Better than tonight we are to be 32 and the first hard frost.

[applestar]

I never miss the lunar or solar eclipse if the weather cooperates, though I don't necessarily go out of my way to get to a best viewing site.

When I'm watching the eclipse, as the shadow/silhouette progresses across the moon (or the sun) I'm almost always reminded of myths and fictional novels that feature an eclipse -- Asimov's Nightfall is one of them.

Also, the progression creates perspective and I can REALLY envision the relationship of the three celestial (? Would that be the appropriate word) bodies... And almost FEEL the Earth moving with tiny *me* clinging to its side.

There's a grand sensation in that moment.

[digitS']

It has been over a day now ..

. and broad daylight ..

. but the image of AppleStar doing shadow puppets on the moon's surface is still in my head ...

Steve

[applestar]

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