Lunar Eclipse

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

I just thought I'd inform anyone who doesn't know that there's a lunar eclipse tonight, which will be visible after midnight Eastern Time if you're in North/South America, or at another time if you're outside of the Americas. I'm sure many people here would like to see this (especially Fat Man!).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2 ... ar_eclipse
Enjoy!

[Fat Man]

I just thought I'd inform anyone who doesn't know that there's a lunar eclipse tonight, which will be visible after midnight Eastern Time if you're in North/South America, or at another time if you're outside of the Americas. I'm sure many people here would like to see this (especially Fat Man!).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2 ... ar_eclipse
Enjoy!

Well, I live in the Mountain Time Zone here in El Paso Texas. The rest of Texas is in the Central Time Zone.

Start penumbral (P1) -- 10:27 pm (*)
Start umbral (U1) ------ 11:32 pm (*)
Start total (U2) --------- 12:40 am
Greatest eclipse --------- 1:17 am
End total (U3) ------------ 1:53 am
End umbral (U4) --------- 3:02 am
End penumbral (P4) ----- 4:06 am
(*) before midnight on Monday night, December 20

So, I'll be sitting outside tonight watching it.

I'll probable come back in just after 1:53 am when the total phase is over. I'll be sure to have some coffee with me and my pipe.

Also, another interesting fact . . .

It will be the first total lunar eclipse in almost 3 years, the last being on February 20, 2008.

It is the second of two lunar eclipses in 2010. The first was a partial lunar eclipse on June 26, 2010. It will be the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Winter Solstice since 1638, and only the second in the Common Era.

So, tonight's lunar eclipse is going to be something special.

Yeah! I'm looking forward to seeing it tonight.

Yes, I heard about it in the NEWS on TV.

Thanks for letting everybody know.

[Fat Man]

Oh! By the way!

In celebration of tonight's total lunar eclipse, I would like to dedicate the following song.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - BAD MOON RISING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeZm7KQJT1o

This is so freakin' cool!!!

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

It's pretty cloudy here, but I can see the moon now. Let's hope the clouds don't cover up the moon during the eclipse. The start prenumbral starts in about 15 minutes, but I'm not sure if I'm going to watch the entire thing in the cold, so I might only watch the total phase, but start watching it a bit before.

[Fat Man]

It's pretty cloudy here, but I can see the moon now. Let's hope the clouds don't cover up the moon during the eclipse. The start prenumbral starts in about 15 minutes, but I'm not sure if I'm going to watch the entire thing in the cold, so I might only watch the total phase, but start watching it a bit before.

Yeah, if I had known much sooner, I would have prepared for the coming event.

I would be celebrating tonight's lunar eclipse by eating Swiss cheese sandwiches because the moon looks like Swiss cheese with all those craters, and for dessert, I would have some Moon Pies!

Of course, washing it down with moonshine isn't legal! Damn!

Oh well.

I could drink a beer with a shot of Bourbon and pretend it's moonshine.

I'm going to be going out in about 30 minutes after posting this.

[Fat Man]

Well, It was a beautiful night.

I came back in at 2:30 AM as the moon was almost half-way back out of the earth's shadow again.

There was three other people standing around out there with me so I wasn't alone. One was an elderly gentleman in his 70s, another guy in his mid 60s and a Spanish lady also in her mid 60s who could speak a little English.

I could tell she was having a fun time, looking up at the moon saying something in Spanish and waving her hands over her head. I thought she was kind of cute.

We had a great time watching the lunar eclipse.

At about 1:05 am, as the last sliver of light disappeared, and the moon turned completely dark, I clapped my hands and went YYYEEEAAAAA!!! Then the three other people also clapped their hands and cheered. We were as excited as people watching a sporting event.

Only this was much better than any sporting event.

It was all peaceful, calm, and relaxing, and at the same time, exciting. That old moon really put on a good show tonight.

At 1:05 am, at the beginning of the total phase of the eclipse, we could hear the trains rumbling through the railroad yards abut 2 blocks away all singing their songs which went on for about a half hour until the last train song faded away in the distant night. Then the distant wail of a police car siren which was barely audible, the typical night sounds of the city. Then all was quiet again.

The air was nice and cool but not cold, just comfortably cool for a winter night, being the first night of the winter solstice.

The moon was almost straight overhead, and not too far from the moon we could see the constellation of Orion, my favorite winter constellation. Being in the city with all the bright lights, we could only make out the brightest stars, so Orion was plainly visible.

Then it was sometime after 2:00 AM when a thin sliver of light on the moons edge began to appear as the moon started to re-emerge from the earth'sve shadow again.

My three companions went back inside the building but I stayed on until 2:30 am when the moon was almost halfway back out of the earth's shadow, then I decided to come in from the night.

This was the very best night I have ever had this year. Most of this past years really sucked for me, but tonight was the very best night which more than made up for the past year.

What was somewhat discouraging however, was that some much younger people happened by, and they were wondering why we were just hanging around looking up at the sky, and I pointed up to the sky saying that we were watching the lunar eclipse.

None of them even bothered to look up, and they just went on their way. I find it really discouraging is that so many people don't care, that it all means nothing to them, that many people would much rather watch a football flying through the air rather than watching an eclipse, or a meteor shower, or seeing a comet, or just looking up at the stars or seeing a rainbow. No they would rather see a football in the air.

So, I guess, only we ol' fuddy duddies cared anything about the lunar eclipse. It was a really big deal to us!

And, why not???

The universe out there is a pretty damn big deal if you ask me!!!

Everything here on the earth is very small and insignificant compared to all that is out there.

As I have said once before, all the kings and queens and Presidents of all the countries on earth, in the cosmic scheme of things, they are of no greater significance that some poor old skid row bum or wino passed out in some dark ally in some small insignificant village somewhere.

I mean, like really!

If I could, I would love the opportunity to approach a king or queen, or a President, or the highest elected official in any country and say thus to him . . . . .

"You sir, you are as nothing! You think you're lord and master of all you servery? You're not! You sir, you are just a worm, an insect, a dung beetle batting away at your little ball of muck and fooling yourself that you trundle the sun!!!"

The highest among us are no better than the lowest among us!

Compared to all the cosmos, we are nothing!

Well, I do like to rant on. Don't I.

Anyway . . . . .

Tonight was a very special night.

Yeah, I've seen lunar eclipses before, but each one is unique.

But, this one was very special.

[Agent 47]

Wow, thankyou for that wonderfully vivid description of your alfresco astronomical evening, Fat Man.

Unfortunately, by the time the moon rose for me here, it was all over.

But during a solar eclipse here several years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet a scientist in a bar who had a super reflecting mirror from some hi-tech machine that he had access to. We started talking, and we ended up going outside together and watching the solar eclipse projected onto the entire wall of a city building using his super reflecting mirror. Amazing stuff indeed. It really put my pin-hole camera to shame!

At about 1:05 am, as the last sliver of light disappeared, and the moon turned completely dark, I clapped my hands and went YYYEEEAAAAA!!! Then the three other people also clapped their hands and cheered. We were as excited as people watching a sporting event.

Only this was much better than any sporting event.

Yeah! Science and astronomy beats sports anyday!

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

Wow, that was just amazing! I ended up watching the eclipse from the start umbral phase to the total phase to end umbral phase. It was very cold outside, but it still was magnificent so I had to stay outside to watch it. I think I actually enjoyed the umbral phase more than the total phase, because while the total phase was spectacular, I enjoyed watching the shadow move over the moon progressively during the umbral phase. It was like a full moon that became a crescent moon and then became a full moon again in just one night. But it was an exciting event and I'm glad I saw it.

[i_like_1981]

I never heard anything about this in the news. But then again, I'm not sure if this really applied for England anyway. If it was visible from England, why didn't the media make a fuss over it? Oh yes, I forgot, they're too absorbed in the lives of celebrity morons like Jordan to even think of reserving the front pages for more intelligent, scientific readers. Or maybe, yet again, the most important information has slipped through the grasps of my mind? Nonetheless, I'll enjoy reading all your descriptions of the event. It's as good as I'll get about this now.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Fat Man]

I never heard anything about this in the news. But then again, I'm not sure if this really applied for England anyway. If it was visible from England, why didn't the media make a fuss over it? Oh yes, I forgot, they're too absorbed in the lives of celebrity morons like Jordan to even think of reserving the front pages for more intelligent, scientific readers. Or maybe, yet again, the most important information has slipped through the grasps of my mind? Nonetheless, I'll enjoy reading all your descriptions of the event. It's as good as I'll get about this now.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Well, in the Mountain Time Zone where I live, the moon was almost overhead during the start of the eclipse.

Mountain Times zone is UTC -7 hours so you're 7 hours ahead of me, which means that for you, the moon was setting in the western sky as the eclipse was starting.

So, anybody living in the opposite hemisphere didn't get to see the eclipse.

That's probably why no mention was made of the eclipse in your NEWS media, because it would not have been visible. It would be just starting as the moon was setting.

Well, you would think that some mention would have been made saying where it would be visible, even if not visible where you live.

So, I guess you're right in saying that your NEWS media is more interested in covering celebrity morons than aything of scientific interest.

I'm sorry you didn't get to see the eclipse.

[recovering_fan]

Well, I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks, as Earl always says.

I never liked watching astronomical events, because my life always felt rather brief in comparison. Instead I've always been more inspired by human feats of engineering, like the moon landing in 1969--or even my city construct bridges over my town's harbour over the course of a few months. I'm sorry they got rid of the Concorde after that one little accident, because I think it would have been great fun to fly the Atlantic in only three hours.

I do have one fond memory of an eclipse, from high school. It happened in a story I read a while back, so I'm a little sketchy on the details.

In Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the "court" is about to execute a Yankee time-traveller from Mark Twain's time who has travelled back to King Arthur's time. However, he finds out what it day it is and remembers that a complete solar eclipse occurred on that day. So he predicts it, and it takes place right as they are about to execute him. They hail him as a prophet and set him free.

--RF