Thursday, February 21, 2008

Lunar Eclipse


taken by me

The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occured last night, with a cameo appearance by Saturn and the bright star Regulus that appeared on both sides of the veiled full moon. It lasted about an hour.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes into Earth's shadow and is blocked from the sun's rays that normally illuminate it. During an eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, leaving a darkened moon visible to observers on the night side of the planet.
The moon doesn't go black because indirect sunlight still reaches it after passing through Earth's atmosphere. Since the atmosphere filters out blue light, the indirect light that reaches the moon transforms it into a reddish or orange tinge.
Unlike solar eclipses which require protective eyewear, lunar eclipses are safe to view with the naked eye. In August, there will be a total solar eclipse and a partial lunar eclipse.
I was washing the dishes and almost forgot about it. Am I the only one that gets excited about things like this?

12 comments:

  1. We saw it, too! Through our large living room windows. It was magical. Your photo is great. Is it yours?

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  2. I saw it! and your picture is great
    I am so glad to know that I am not
    the only one in the family that
    gets excited about things like this!!!

    Love ya

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  3. You two are not the only ones in the family excited about the huge world above us. Shoj and I were watching it too and I suspect people in Oakland as well.

    It was great, the sky was so clear here last night because we had just had some rain to wash away the smog. LOL

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  4. Hey mom, I stoped by, thought I would say hello. Love you

    Rob

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  5. It was a beautiful sight! I knew nothing about it until my best friend called and insisted that I go outside and look up at the moon. I'm sure glad she called!

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  6. I saw it for a little while and it was very pretty.

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  7. Great photo Angela. It was fun to watch, even if it was late for me..!

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  8. That is beautiful...just stunning. Good job of explaining it too. Loved it!

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  9. It was beautiful, wasn't it? Our whole family went outside in our backyard to look at it.

    It made me feel like when the children were young, and we would go outside to see the "magic" of stars at night in the summer.
    XO Lidy

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  10. it was so incredibly beautiful :) lovely capture :)

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  11. I get excited by these things too. Here it was three o'clock in the morning. I waited up, I lay out on the lawn in my bivi bag. Alas, it clouded over. I didn't see anything. The nieghbours cats sat out with me, and we had a good time anyway.
    Nice job on the photo.

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  12. Actually Sandy and I get excited about this also. She called me from work or from a meeting (somewhere)and reminded me of it. I went outside and couldn't find it anywhere. I went out later and saw a sliver of light on the moon, the eclipse was just starting to get over. The sliver of light was extremely bright. I kept telling Jamison about it, but by the time he went outside, it was almost over. But, the moon shone so bright it almost looked like the sun by that time. Your picture was very pretty.UJ

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