We Lost the Lunar Eclipse – to Daylight!
December 2022 :
Note: This article may contain outdated information
This article was published in the December 2022 issue of The Skyscraper and likely contains some information that was pertinent only for that month. It is being provided here for historical reference only.
The November 8th total lunar eclipse was to be the last we would be able to see for several years. The previous one, in May, was for most sky watchers clouded out, either all or in part. Therefore, this was one many of us were hoping to see. Unfortunately, its timing wasn’t really great: The Moon entered the dark shadow, the umbra, at 4:00 o’clock in the morning. Anyone who wanted to see and/or photograph this event had to realize there was going to be a big loss of sleep. But, many of us did it, anyway.
Jim Hendrickson and I went to Chase Farm, a couple miles from me in Lincoln, as it has a fairly good western horizon, broken up only by silos belonging to nearby Butterfly Farm. We arrived a little after 4:00 A.M., just as the Moon was beginning to enter the Earth’s dark shadow, the umbra. From then, we watched as it slowly disappeared, finally reaching second contact at 5:16.
As usual, the media did try to hype this eclipse, by calling it a “blood Moon,” as for some reason it believes the public likes to think about the Moon dripping blood; actually, although the color was reddish, it was nowhere near the dark scarlet that “blood” would seem to infer. Instead, it was a steady, ruddy glow.
Although we had stopped at the local police station to ask permission to set up in the middle of the night in a town park, apparently, it wasn’t necessary, as cars kept coming into the lot and parking. The first belonged to a father and his young son, who walked up the path, then stood around, apparently looking up; a few minutes later, as always, a dog owner came in, followed by a group who began “cooking” something – not the obvious - further away from us. Suddenly, though, I heard my name. I had mentioned the eclipse to a group I had met with Monday night, and one of the members came up to enjoy the sight with us. As she had to work early that morning, she only stayed about an hour, but was very impressed with the Moon’s different coloring.
In addition, we enjoyed observing the entire winter set of constellations, and seeing Mars virtually overhead. Plus, we were able to watch both the ISS and Tiangong make beautiful passes, and to listen to a rooster whose internal clock wasn’t the greatest, as he cocked almost every fifteen minutes.
An amazing observation was that we weren’t going to watch the entire lunar eclipse, as third contact took place after the Moon set; also, the Moon was becoming almost invisible, and was being drowned out by dawn, an interesting effect.
Although getting out of bed in the middle of the night isn’t the greatest feat, it was worth it, even though we had recently returned from Iceland, and were still on their time, but, we won’t have another total lunar eclipse until springtime, 2025; plus, the next one’s totality won’t be as long as this one. And, of course, after so many eclipses that were clouded out, this one was worth the sleep loss.
The January 31, 2018 partial lunar eclipse occorred at Moonset, by Jim Hendrickson.
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