Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Worth getting up early

I was up 4:30 DST (5:30 EDT) and peeked out the front window.

Clear skies.  Yay!  I could watch the lunar eclipse.

I bundled up, turned off the outside light, grabbed my camera and binoculars and hurried out.

Thankfully it wasn't too cold (mid-40s) and no wind.  The sky was clear and starry.

The moon was in the west and I saw that there was just the slightest shadow moving across the upper left-hand corner.

I settled in on a lawn chair to watch.

Unlike solar eclipses that move pretty darn fast, lunar ones are much more sedate, allowing the viewer to skywatch.

In the hour I was watching the moon (up until total when it was completely obscured by surrounding trees), I spotted 4 satellites, 1 very bright and 4 very dim shooting stars.  For an hour I was transported.  No.  Reminded that there is way more than us out there. And it should be appreciated.  We need the perspective - ever more so these days.

I came in just a bit ago.  The 'blood moon' is lost to me behind tall trees now, but I've seen several over the decades and remember the copper glow of totality. 

Over the years when I ask people if they watch a meteor shower, seen a comet, viewed an eclipse, or even checked out the night skies, they kinda look at me.  "Why? - It's on the web if I want to look."

Trust me.  It's not the same.  


7 comments:

  1. I did not know that was going on last night---ARGH!
    I LOVE watching the night skies. I've always considered myself "lucky" that I get up so early---amazing what I've seen because of it.

    Glad to see someone else that appreciates our natural world. So many have lost that "connection"---and the environment pays a steep price for that. It's hard to care about the Earth if it's something you don't even notice.

    Hope your day continues on it's wonderous way...........
    :)

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    1. Yep, it's all about perspective. I feel so bad for my Mom. Here vision has dimmed and she cannot see stars anymore. Sorry you missed the show. :-( Hope your day goes well too. Planning to do some cleanup the next couple days before more rain this weekend.

      Hey, surprised I didn't see a comment from you on the previous post. Exciting stuff going on.

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  2. I had no clue there was going to be an eclipse, but thought something looked odd when I got up at 515am and the living room wasn't LIT UP like it was by the moon yesterday morning. I hadn't paid attention to the moon yesterday - was it a full moon? I couldn't remember. I DID notice what I could see of the moon was VERY bright, but the rest of it was very rusty/coppery looking. Funky, cool and creepy all at the same time. Made me think back to times when this sort of thing wasn't understood, and might imply something magical, predict the harvests for the season, rulers of empires, etc.

    As I drove in to work I noticed that the bright white sliver was getting MUCH smaller, which had me hopping online once I got in to the office to confirm the eclipse that I suspected I was seeing. I think the lack of "spoiler" on this one for me made it all that much more magical...I didn't know there was going to be an eclipse, but something really cool looking was going on up there!

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  3. Wonderful :} There is nothing quite like the sense of awe you get from watching something like this (and no to the soul-less ones - it's not the same online!!).

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  4. I wished I had done the same but I did not. I saw wonderful clouds surrounding the moon at 10:00 while walking the dog. The clouds were like spinning cotton candy. It sounds like a great time. We have a flight pattern that goes over our place and in the night I can see passenger jets and Sac Air Force going over sometime late at night.

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  5. well I was up and hoping to see it, but the clouds obscured it for most of the time. By the time the clouds parted for just a few minutes, there was just a sliver and a slight copper colour surrounding it. Disappointed but looking forward now to April 4/15!

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  6. Stunning!! Unfortunately, it was overcast here, so definitely no sightings.

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