Nothing I can see of a Total Eclipse of the Moon

[BlackBat242]

No, not a filk of Bonnie Tyler's song.


Anyone catch the Lunar Eclipse the night of Dec. 20-21, 2010?

It was fully cloudy where I was in western Colorado, so I couldn't see anything.

However, my brother in Reno, Nevada went outside the city, and got a bunch of pics through the "moon roof" of his SUV... he said it was too cold to be outside.

Here is a composite he made (reduced file size JPG thanks to photobucket's restrictions on file types, the original TIF is over 3 times the file size, and thus better quality) and a sample of a single shot.

Neat, huh?

 

[BeRKA]

Very nice pics. Thank your brother from me.

 

[HiverLord]

Nice!

Agreed. Very nice pics. Thanks from me also.
(Alas, we got MORE snow that night here in Minnesota...)

 

[Patron Zero]

Missed here too in the Midwestern Enclaves, dense cloud cover prevented as much as a peek.

 

[whartung]

A week of solid rain in So Cal, so, nothing here.

The full lunar eclipse is one of my favorite astronomical events.

The reason is because normally when we see the moon, it's a bright disk (or fragment). Just a circle in the sky.

But watch a full eclipse and you'll notice that as soon as the bright light of the sun is shadowed by Mother Earth, the moon loses it's flat shapes and pops out of the sky in full 3D.

I can't explain the effect, obviously some kind of optical illusion with the light and the eye. But when the moon goes Red, it turns from a circle to a ball, hanging in the sky, and I think that brings out the full majesty of our nearest neighbor.

I was bummed missing this years event, and we won't have another for I guess almost 3 years, but I always look forward to the lunar eclipse when what we have up there is truly revealed for all to enjoy.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Great pics!

It was cloudy enough here in Illinois that I missed it.

 

[Cryton]

Awesome!

Like whartung, I missed it due to SoCal rain (another rare occurrence), so thanks for posting these!

 

[ShapeShifter]

The Nirgendwo Subsector was obscured by clouds.

 

[Madarin Dude]

Excellent pics and glad i had a chance to view them.

 

[PDXWiz]

Also missed it...

...because of the weather here in Portland, Oregon. It was too cold for me. I've seen several before over the years when it was warmer, so I wasn't too stressed about missing it.

Boy, those are great pix! Thanks for sharing them.

Gordon Long

 

[Gray Lensman]

South Florida was Crystal Clear, about 59 F (15 C for you people that live in strange places ), a mild breeze, and me in a lawn chair with a sleeping bag over me (yes, I am a Native Floridian and if it falls under 70 I am looking for a jacket) and a mug of hot chocolate (take a pint/liter whatever of heavy whipping cream and melt Hershey's Chocolate bars in it to taste o. Was a great night for viewing.