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View Full Version : Did You See The Eclipse Last Night?


CaseClosed
02-21-2008, 02:33 PM
I saw it .All I did was looked out my window and there the moom was bright orange. What a sight. The next eclispe will be in 2010.:cool: Had I seen the eclipse when it was bright red, I think I would have been scared.:eek:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/21/science/21eclipse533.jpg

If my neighborhood in Brooklyn is representative (let’s hope not), I’m afraid more people watched “American Idol” last night than stepped outside to see the total eclipse of the Moon. Watching it from my stoop, I was the only ecliptophile on the block. A few people walking their dogs stopped to take a look through my binoculars, but most of them hadn’t even noticed the eclipse until then.

Now, I realize it was a cold night, but really, what kept people from taking in the greatest show on Earth — or off Earth? I can understand a certain degree of eclipse fatigue, given how many previous eclipses have been ruined by cloudy skies, but last night you couldn’t have asked for better conditions in New York: a beautifully crisp sky, the moon high above the buildings, all conveniently scheduled for prime time viewing.

There’s no better way to appreciate the effect of Earth’s atmospheric dust on light waves than to see the Sun’s refracted light turning the Moon orange during totality. (For a full explanation, see MrEclipse.) And no matter how many times you’ve been taught the Earth is round, it’s still amazing to see that curved shadow moving across the Moon.

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/the-moons-brilliant-eclipse/?hp

TheHawk
02-21-2008, 02:35 PM
but I couldn't see the moon!

CaseClosed
02-21-2008, 02:39 PM
but I couldn't see the moon!

were you looking?

TheHawk
02-21-2008, 03:02 PM
were you looking?

humor. :o

planetarium
02-22-2008, 12:16 PM
Glad you got to see it! It was quite beautiful.

I'm attaching a snapshot I took with a little digital camera. That's Regulus above the Moon and Saturn to the left.

We had a stargazing event scheduled for Riker Hill Park in Livingston that night but the forecast was so bad we cancelled it. And of course wouldn't you know the skies started to clear in the middle of the eclipse!

CaseClosed
02-22-2008, 02:20 PM
Glad you got to see it! It was quite beautiful.

I'm attaching a snapshot I took with a little digital camera. That's Regulus above the Moon and Saturn to the left.

We had a stargazing event scheduled for Riker Hill Park in Livingston that night but the forecast was so bad we canceled it. And of course wouldn't you know the skies started to clear in the middle of the eclipse!

Last night at the time of the eclipse, the sky was clear and the moon, when I saw it, was bright orange. Do you have pictures of the moon when it was red?