A predawn total eclipse of the Moon In the last two hours of darkness before dawn on the morning of January 31, 2018, the Moon waded into the shadow of the Earth. The result was a total eclipse of the Moon. Despite a forecast of high clouds during the night, the sky remained clear. There is a profound difference between a total eclipse of the Sun and a total eclipse of the Moon. As some of us witnessed last August, a solar eclipse begins quietly and innocuously, and as the Moon crosses over the Sun, the sky begins to darken, first gradually, and later precipitously and suddenly until, for a magic minute or two, the Sun disappears and is replaced by a jeweled crown. The eclipse of the Moon began gradually around 4:00 am, as the Earth’s partial shadow or penumbra began to work its way across the face of the Moon.   Instead of a sudden start, the beginning is so … Continue reading →