Tag Archives: Total Lunar Eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse Tales

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  Observing the moon during a total lunar eclipse can be very exciting. The colour is unpredictable and can vary in tone, shade and intensity according to the condition of the Earths atmosphere at the time The first one I ever viewed was back in 1992. The moon looked like a huge steel ball in the night sky, grey with a hint of blue.   Back then I wasn’t practising astronomical drawing at all but I have memories of recording it on an old video camera. The Earths atmosphere was full of dust from the volcanic eruption of Mt Pinatubo located in the Philippines.     This months total lunar eclipse brought back many memories of previous efforts to capture these short-lived but very interesting events. I wondered if the eruption of Krakatoa would have a noticeable effect on January 21st 2019. Total Lunar Eclipse 2019 I decided to draw the full moon earlier that evening without using the telescope. … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 15, 2019 – FAW Edition

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This entry is part 78 of 93 in the series In the Sky This Week

This week, I’m in Tucson, AZ helping with the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s 2019 Faith and Astronomy Workshop (#FAWVOF). It’s startling to see how high the waxing gibbous Moon is, and how low Ursa Major is in the sky compared to where I see them in Michigan! Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the Big and Little Dippers) are low in the northern sky at midnight. The conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the star Antares continues in the southeastern predawn sky all week; I got to see this as I was walking across the facility to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee – Venus was brilliant! Saturn also makes its return to the early morning sky. A waxing gibbous Moon appears near the constellation Taurus high in the southern sky after sunset In Tucson, the star Deneb appears in the western sky after sunset where the stars Altair and Vega appear from Michigan. Mars appears higher in the southwestern sky after … Continue reading →

Skyward: February 2018

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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 →

Go Observe – January 31st Total Lunar Eclipse 2018

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“Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” Albert Einstein Total Lunar Eclipse 2018 On January 31st 2018 some of you will be lucky enough to be able to observe a total lunar eclipse. It is not visible from my location in Ireland. However  it is a very special visual occurrence. Therefore  I would like to share my experience of a total lunar eclipse.  On March 3rd / 4th 2007 I observed and drew this phenomenon, between the hours of 21:40 UT March 3rd  and 00:35 UT March 4th. A total lunar eclipse happens when the moon is full. Our moon is fully illuminated by the sun on its Earth facing side when it is in  full moon phase.  Its position during a total lunar eclipse on its monthly trip around the Earth brings it deep into the shadow of our planet in space. Yes just like you the Earth has its very own shadow . The moon , the Earth … Continue reading →