Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Watching the Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

I watched from the window, too chicken to venture out into the sub-freezing temperatures, regardless of the opportunity of a lifetime.  Joe, on the other hand, braved the bitter cold to capture photos of this historic show.

The earth's shadow took only about an hour and a half or so to make her trip across the moon. Joe's first photo was when the eclipse was already about thirty minutes underway.

12-21-10 2:07 AM
12-21-10 2:08 AM
12-21-10 2:09 AM
12-21-10 2:21 AM

12-21-10 2:23 AM

12-21-10 2:40 AM

12-21-10 2:40 AM

12-21-10 2:41 AM

By the time the last photo was taken, the earth's shadow was totally covering the moon...but the image, while not clear, shows the whole sphere, rather than the sliver visible just a minute earlier.

As I saw it through the window, it appeared I could see the whole sphere of the earth's shadow as it approached full coverage of the moon, but could see nothing, once the moon had been eclipsed.  Interesting.



10 comments:

Sharon said...

Tell Joe he did a good job and thank him for me! Very interesting post!

Judy's Corner said...

I will do so, Sharon. It was really neat to watch. I am glad that even though it was cold, at least it was clear enough to see and to photograph.

Gorges Smythe said...

Too cloudy at my house. Took the dog out during the big event, but did n't see a thing, though I could tell it was a bit darker than the night before.

Scott or Pam said...

Excellent photos. My wife got me up at 3 am, but we missed the peak of it.

Judy's Corner said...

Gorges,

Sorry you didn't get a chance to see it. It was quite interesting. And the experience is so different from trying to watch a solar eclipse.... great being able to look right at the moon!

Judy's Corner said...

Scott,

I imagine it was nearly done when you got a look, presuming you must be further west than we in VA. It wrapped up here before 3:00 AM. I'm glad Joe got the photos because it was too darned cold out there for this wimp!

Leigh, Andrea Leigh Gil said...

Excellent photos!!!

Judy's Corner said...

Thanks, Leigh!

Inger said...

No moon or earth shadow to be seen around here either, so thank Joe for the great pictures.--Inger

Judy's Corner said...

Inger, it was quite a sight! I'm glad Joe took the pictures too!