[meteorite-list] Lunar eclipse

From: j.divelbiss_at_att.net <j.divelbiss_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:27:46 2004
Message-ID: <110920031554.7046.114d_at_att.net>

James and others,

Last night's total lunar eclipse was one to remember for us here in Eastern
US (near Philly/Harrisburg for me).

The night was ssoooo...eerie and spooky(scary in theory). Such a moon and sky
would have made a great night for Halloween. The timing was close enough for
me though. Memories of having a couple pieces of field corn in hand, a
notched thread spool, string and pencil...off to raise minor heck ran through
my mind from 35 years ago.

Last night started off cold and clear with a full moon in the eastern sky.
The first half of the eclipse shadow moved from left to right, north to south
across the moon(probably one of the more "spookier" times during the event),
and during the second half (shadow lift)...the sun was lighting the moon from
the bottom up slightly skewed to the north (4 o'clock to 9 o'clock). The time
period for the total eclipse itelf was about a half hour or so.

During the eclipse the moon had a dark yellowish-orange hue to it. It was
very striking against the dark sky. As the shadow was lifting a thin layer of
fast moving clouds came through and built up to the east towards Philly. The
moving clouds gave the viewing even more dynamics...it was a sight to see,
and notably it was about 32 F..0 C degrees(cold) at this point. These clouds
building in the east developed a faint yellow hue to them as the eclipse
lifted. The moon had moved to the south and slightly higher in the sky.

I took my older son and his friend for a ride in the car during the
blackout...I think they will remember a sleep-over night when "we were about
12 years old and we had a total eclipse of the moon...it was sooo cool". It
was.

Going lunar again,

John
Reading, PA
Received on Sun 09 Nov 2003 10:54:13 AM PST