From Spaceweather.com
TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE: Earlier today, for the first time in 372 years, a total lunar eclipse occurred on the date of the northern winter solstice. Observers in North America were favored with an overhead view as the full Moon slipped in and out of Earth’s eerie red shadow. Jonathan Sabin sends this picture from Ellenton, Florida:
Photo details: 10″ Meade LX200, Nikon D300, prime focus,ISO 1250, 2s exposure
“It was an absolutely gorgeous night for an eclipse!” says Sabin.
Sabin’s photo captured not only the red light at the core of Earth’s shadow caused by sunlight filtering through the stratosphere, but also the “turquoise fringe” caused by our planet’s ozone layer. Pictures like this are golden for researchers who look at the colors of eclipses to diagnose the state of Earth’s atmosphere. See “All-Clear in the Stratosphere,” below.
more images: from Rod Lindley of Dallas, TX; from Kevin R. Witman of Cochranville, Pennsylvania; from John W. O’Neal, II of Amherst, Ohio; from Evan Ludes of Omaha, Nebraska; from John Stetson of Southport, CT; from Mark A. Brown of Carlisle, Pennsylvania; from Giancarlo Ubaldo Nappi of Belo Horizonte MG, Brazil; from Phil Harrington of Long Island, NY; from Mike Mezeul II of Sachse, Texas
See the Lunar Eclipse Photo Gallery
Due to the cloudy skies we missed that one here in The Netherlands.
Stayed up with the kids until nearly three in the morning (local). Beautiful night, and the kids loved it.
Drat! We had clouds. No show for my neck of the woods.
I knew I’d get to see a good image here. That one is a beaut.
Unfortunately Vancouver was 100% cloud covered so I missed it and the meteor shower… but last week on a clear night I did see one awesome meteor when I looked up into the night sky as a jet flew overhead (which was beautiful too) and to the left a bright flash occurred streaking across the sky.
Really awesome video of the full lunar eclipse of 2010:
WOW! Three celestial events at one time:
Check the Cloud Cover forecast here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=vancouver+weather.
Time of eclipse in Vancouver: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=vancouver+lunar+eclipse.
Time of the solstice: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=vancouver+solstice.
Timing of the Ursids Metoer shower: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=vancouver+Ursids
Now comes a week of major earthquakes. pg
It was a glorious sight. I pity, though, our remote ancestors who suddenly saw their reliable moon goddes suddenly turn red on them. It must have been terrifying.
I missed it due to clouds, I even woke up in the middle of the night and everything. What a dissappointment.
I saw a mention of the eclipse on abc.com, where they put in a blurb about how it’s OK to look directly at a lunar eclipse with your eye, but doing that with a solar eclipse is bad for your eyes.
I wonder sometimes about disclaimers like that. Are people so stupid that they don’t understand the difference between the direct light from the sun and the indirect light reflected off the moon’s surface (perhaps after being refracted through the earth’s atmosphere to produce the reddish coloration)?
Yeah, they probably are that stupid.
Sadly, it was cloudy in my location as we were dealing with more snow, so thanks for posting the links so I could see some pictures of the great show I missed.
Unprecidented…obviously had something to do with moon disruption.
Makasih infonya Pak. tulisanya bagus dan panjang, anda dari mana Pak?
We enjoyed mild temps here in the Fort Worth area and the sky was clear except for some low-level whispy clouds that moved through, but they reflected a pink patina and it added to the effect. ( pink from the city lights ). I felt fortunate to experience it as so many in the country had cloud cover. For those that missed it, it was pretty cool. First one I’ve watched in I don’t know how long and obviously, this one was special.
Away from NH and saw it on Anna Maria Island, FL. Gorgeous color like the picture. Moon hung between Orion and Auriga.
drudgereport said it was the first eclipse of its kind in 345 years (or was it 456 years?)
Anyway, I guess this means the poles will shift and a new ice-age begins?
Here north of Philly it was a fantastic eclipse. Cloudless night. Stars all over the place. Got an hour’s worth of photos. Frozen fingers as well due to the global warming!
ber-TanyaJawab says:
December 21, 2010 at 11:11 am
Makasih infonya Pak. tulisanya bagus dan panjang, anda dari mana Pak?
I don’t speak much bahasa Malaya/Indonesia. All I know from working ofshore on the oil rigs is: “Hati hati kepala anda”! (Mind your head.)
I didn’t see the eclipse from here in Thailand – it was almost over when the moon rose at 18:24 local time.
I looked up and all I got was a facefull of snow. Darn global warming.
Am I missing something? I want to read “All-Clear in the Stratosphere” that’s referenced in the article.
The Monster says, “I saw a mention of the eclipse on abc.com, where they put in a blurb about how it’s OK to look directly at a lunar eclipse with your eye, but doing that with a solar eclipse is bad for your eyes.”
You can safely look at a solar eclipse with naked eyes ONLY DURING TOTALITY. That is, only when the moon completely covers the sun. Any bit of the sun shining around the edge can be dangerous, especially after the end of totality. A brief view of the first bit of sun showing through a lunar valley is called the “diamond ring”. It is beautiful, but you can’t look at it for long because the sun is rapidly going to form a crecent again that will cook your retinas (see http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety2.html).
The next rather decent solar eclipse in North America will be Aug 21, 2017. See http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html.
ber-TanyaJawab says:
December 21, 2010 at 11:11 am
Anthony says your welcome, yes this was a “good and long post.”
errrr the picture was taken in Florida America.
Here in Brisbane we had our first clear sky in about 2 weeks, but alas, after a long bbq and many beers, I fell asleep, woke up with about 1/8 of the moon eclipsed 🙁
Great images, thanks! I enjoyed especially the Sabin image. It looks much like the eclipses we saw over here in 2003 and 2004.
Nothing to see here this time, too low on the horizon, too much fog… and wrong part of the day.
-18.1C outside. Climate disruption indeed.
I remember seeing a total lunar eclipse decades ago, from the front porch in Santa Monica, CA. I think it may have been the one in March of 1960. It was spooky to see that goldish/brownish color.
Since it was 25 degrees at 11:00PM and I was in pj’s and robe, I did NOT go outside to see the one last night.
Could it have been any more impressive as seen from Carson City, NV?
The other story at spaceweather.com is more interesting. This clear picture of the red moon is an indication that the stratosphere is clear and not full of particulates, as was the case after major volcanic eruption.
I watched it on my Christmas present (early) – a 5″ Cassegrain Telescope, as it came over the horizon at about 8 pm. Magical. I then grabbed a good look at Jupiter. Awesome! But now we’re going to have a week of heavy rain and comparative cold. Where’s our warmer, drier weather please BOM? CSIRO? LIARS!
Merry Christmas, everyone but them!
Tim
Mods you may want to treat TanyaJawabs comment as spam, unless you need a certain part of your anatomy lengthened.