Lunar eclipse, 2008/02/20 10-11 PM EDT
We’ve got a total lunar eclipse coming up here shortly. Friends are coming over, and we’ll pull out the telescope for viewing and our binoculars. I’ve already baked up a fudge cake for after; it is 11 degrees F out currently, and we’ll want something warm after that.
Diane says that the reports state that there may be moments when the moon appears tinted turquoise at the beginning and end of the eclipse. That is apparently due to the absorption spectrum of the ozone layer.
More later.
Update: Two pictures, one during totality, and the other as the eclipse was ending.
No turquoise here, Wesley.
(Hi Diane, hope you’re feeling better!)
It was a very nice shade of burnt sienna, though. High clouds, nothing major. The wife and kids and I took turns with our 10 X 50s, propped against the car to steady the jigglies.
It was very cold though, somewhere around 58 F. I had to put a sweatshirt on. It was horrible. At one point, I had to pull the hood on my sweatshirt up because it was so blustery and wintery.
Yep, it sucked.
:)
Diane’s parents in Clearwater, Florida reported overcast and drizzle. A good deal warmer, yes, but no eclipse viewing.
It was as cold as a brass monkey’s finger up here in the Midwest, so Rev. Barky and I got a good look. That’s right – we looked – then ran back inside.
I live in Connecticut, on the coast, and I could see it. It was beautiful. So glad it happened before the snowstorm that is supposed to hit tomorrow!