Tuesday morning I watched a spectacular lunar eclipse. Awesome, fantastic, those are some of the words I would use to describe the night’s event. This was the best lunar eclipse the mid-west will experience for many years to come.
I was excited for the chance to watch this eclipse it’s been several years since my last one.I spent all evening getting ready, watching the sky and satellite images as a line of clouds passed over. Just before midnight it cleared. As Earths shadow began to creep across the moon my telescope took a selfie, the picture to the left. Through out the night I took pictures and will post more in the days ahead.
Several friends told me they got out and saw the eclipse. Excellent! Pretty impressive they got up, let alone out into the cold. It was a crisp 27 degrees (F)! Great to see interest in an event that has awed man for centuries but I feel they missed a big part of it. They saw it, they didn’t watch it. There’s a difference you see. One watches the sunset, the sky changing color with each passing minute. To simply look at the setting sun captures the moment but misses the whole experience.
There’s something special about watching a lunar eclipse. The night sky turns dark as the moon goes red. Colored by all the sunsets and sunrises happening that moment on Earth. For a short while that red moon sits among the nights stars. That’s a sight you rarely get to see.