Awesome eclipse coming
 

Awesome.

Thing is, it starts at one in the morning on a Monday night, and lasts for 90 minutes. I must see at least the best part of it, maybe sleep a bit, then get up for half-hour to an hour? I don't want to miss it...

I need to set a reminder for this. thanks! looking forward to it

Although as a veteran of many lunar eclipses, I'd have to argue that longer is not necessarily better. They are slow as molasses to start with.

Solar eclipses are another matter altogether, definitely a case of the longer the better....

What about the girth of the eclipse?

Take that, Africa and Europe.

Yeah, that's why I'm thinking I'd get up at about 1:30 and watch half an hour of the best part.

That depends on your definition of the best part. Once it's in totality, that's 90 minutes of boring. According to NASA, totality begins at 11:52PM Monday night (Pacific time). I personally would plan on watching between ~11:45 and 12:15 and see it transition from partial to total.

Is this a lunar eclipse or a solar eclipse?

It's visible at about 1AM and we're below the arctic circle...

Those of us attending Moulin Rouge can just hang out a little longer and catch it together.

Got it - solar eclipse.

Thanks!

Oh that's right! Thanks for the reminder!

Some lunar eclipses are better than others, and it's got nothing to do with length. (And despite what the girls - and some of us boyz - say, it's got little to do with girth either).

Some just happen to cast a reddish glow on our world, with the moon looking less like a blacked-out invisibility and more like a dark red, very angry, suddenly invading Mars.


I'll certainly stay-up or get up late to check it out, but city lights will likely negate any cool effect of red planet menace.

At the moment of totality I shall think off all my Lot friends. It's an existential meet!

I'll be the one drawing a face on the moon with my laser pointer.

Aww, too bad the timing will be off. How could we not think of MOONliner on that special night?

Hmm I'll have to try and catch that...

Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse happens at the same time everywhere. So in fact the timing will be precise across all time zones.

But it'll look different to you, right? It'll go total at a different time, right? Am I confused?

If the east coast sees it at 4am, we will see it at 1am.

We will all see the same thing as each other at the same moment, regardless of where we are in the country.

The problem with the east coast is that oncoming daylight will interfere with the tail end.


(Not that staying up till, or getting up at, 4:30 in the morning wasn't already a problem)

Since the light we see off the moon is indirect, reflected from the sun, anyone who can see it will see it at the same time. The moment the moon enters earth's shadow, that portion will appear dark from everywhere.

correct. unlike a solar where the shadow is cast TO the earth from a substantially smaller object (ie: the moon)

This is tonight!

Oh! thank you so much for the reminder!!!!!!!

Will someone please P.M. me at one this morning, so I can wake up and go outside.

The moonrise tonight was very cool. I don't think I'll be getting up at 4 to see eclipse though. Enjoy!

2:52 a.m.??!?!?


What happened to the 1:00 a.m. in the O.P.?

Beats me.

The O.P. by CP claims it begins at 12:54am, the link in GD's previous post claims it begins at 1:41am, and the image I posted from Yahoo a few minutes ago claims it begins at 2:52am.

No one go to bed tonight!

Maybe the total eclipse occurs at the later time, and it commences around 1:00? It's supposed to last a good while so I'm planning on stepping out periodically during my usual insomnia run tonight. (Now watch- I'll fall asleep like a normal person for once, just because something cool is happening).

I know what you mean!

The Old People are currently in Haines (Haynes?), Alaska. I was talking to here when the moon rose. She was getting all excited because it was the first night they have been able to see it. She decribed it as a full moon, redish in color, reflecting off the water. Then she started squealing. A fully lit up cruise ship was going by and it made quite the view from their front window (aka windshield).

Wouldn't it be cool to be on that cruise?:snap:

Is it a total eclipse of the heart?

Only if your heart is made of cheese.

Winsleydale?

It's a bit runny.....

I don't care how fu<king runny it is. Hand it over with all speed.

Ooops- the cat's eaten it.

Oops! I somehow missed that the link I gave had the times in Pacific already, not Eastern. Yikes.

So yeah, the moon starts to get obscured at around 1 AM, it completely enters the Penumbra (the outer portion of the shadow where the sun's light is only partially blocked by the atmosphere), and by 2:52 AM it will be completely immersed in the Umbra, the center part of the shadow.

So, get your sleep and wake up at about 2:30AM.

whoopee!!

I get up for work at 5 anyway... so why not stay up all night?

Sorry for the misinformation.....geez I hate this technical crap. Just tell me when the hell it looks cool! Anyway, hope someone stays up...

Shut that bloody bazouki player up! :D

Ooooh, it's starting. So freeking cool.

This is really creeping me out. :eek:

The eclipse has started...the top 1/3 has a smokey shadow right now. It looks bright white on the other 2/3. I hope I stay awake for awhile longer to see the full effect.

I've taken some pictures, but I have a crappy camera. Mostly it's white dot with an indention. I can't imagine what pics are being taken by pros right now.

It is beautiful.

^ yea, what he said.

I want to run around the neighborhood banging a pot like Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and yell "eclipse" instead of "Oklahoma"

"The new phone books' here!!"

aka - The ECLIPSE is HERE!!- The ECLIPSE is HERE!!

OK I'm up too..... wow it is pretty neat, I don't know if it is the sleepies in my eyes or what but the reddish tint over the moon is... glowing. Now that's something you don't see every day. I have a pair of binoculars and the neighbors prolly think I am some kinda perv. ;)

Duh, binocs - thanks I will get mine out. No red tint/glow here.

I've got the red tint. It is just amazing. It's like some kind of creepy movie where the moon turns blood red. There is no white - only a dark redish moon in the sky among the stars. Just incredible...

I see the red now, it was not there on my last peek. I still see a crack of white on the bottom edge, but the rest is a glowing reddy-orange. I can see shadows of the moon's craters behind the glow. Wow! This is amazing. Soooo gorgeous, yet creepy.

Total lunar eclipse... it looks pretty cool with or without binoculars (almost better without since as Borneo points out, you get the "big picture"). When looking at it, you really feel yourself as a fixed point on this planet with the sun "behind" you. It is pretty mesmerizing.... gonna watch for a few more minutes and head back to bed :)

The moment of "greatest" eclipse is at 3:37 and to my star-gazers up on the LoT, I bid you some magical mooning moments (though perhaps not of the traditional LoT-party variety, tee hee) ~ sweet dreams!!!!

Yes, the big picture is just spectacular.

Night-Night Joe!

I guess I'm not the only one still up. Simply awesome.

I find myself gazing into the sky and thinking of absolutely nothing but the sky. It is so peaceful and clear.

Good night, Moonwatchers. This princess is off to bed.

Gnite Moonwatchers. I'll be around for a bit more.

I think I shall be retiring shortly. Though I may be cancelling my 9am meeting.

3:37 huh? I don't know if I'm gonna stay up that late, but I'll go out again around ... oh wait, it's 3:20 now ... I guess I'll go out again around 3:37.

The moon wasn't totally in shadow at 3:10, so I'm wondering if it will get more completely eclipsed. Oooh, maybe I should bring my iPod and listen to Dark Side of the Moon.

Now the moom shadow is shifting and getting brighter on the upper left side. The lower right side is a darker tint.

Silver lining my ass. I hate clouds.

Well, you avitar pretty much looks like what I'm seeing.

If that helps...

Well, just after 4am - hitting the hay. What a sight. Hopefuly some good pics will come about.

Amazing sight.

It was too light here to get as good a show as you got. Perhaps next time. Thanks for the running commentary. :)

I'm a wimp. Gave out at 1 am before anything even started. Had my telescope out and everything, although it was a great look at a bright full moon! Very clear sky here in Garden Grove. Had to get up at 6 am for work. Sucks getting old, ya know. But very cool reading about it here! Thanks!

Meh! I was sound asleep.
I see Moonliner's avatar. Good enuff fer me!
:D

Morning all! We went to bed around midnight, and crawled back out at 2:45. We watched the last moments as the shadow overtook the surface. The way it crept along, right on the edge of being fast enough to be perceptible. And without it's bright white glow, the moon seemed to shrink to half its size one fully immersed in its dull red glow (red, by the way, because once fully in the shadow, the only light that reaches it is the long wave-length red light that gets bent around Earth's atmosphere).

The second I can afford commercial space travel, I'm on a rocket to the moon.

too foggy in my part of town, could not see a damn thing

why it didnt dawn on to post during this thing I have no idea.

that was neat

That was freeking awesome.

Though I was 45 minutes late to work. And I am beyond exhausted.

Didn't try to sleep and wake up. Just stayed up with a friend.

I got up a few times and checked on the progress. I even dragged her crab assiness out at about 3ish to take look.

Very cool.

Wonder where those were taken from. It's rotated about 90 degrees or more counter clockwise from the direction we saw the shadow traveling.

Yes, it seems like the bottom of the moon was the last to eclipse.

There is no dark side of the moon really. As a matter of fact, it's all dark.

Maybe the camera or photos are rotated 90°............

;)

It was PhotoShopped ;)

Yup that looks like what I saw. Tres cool.

I (as usual) couldn't fall asleep, so I got up around 2:15 and went to check it out. The moon was visible right from our deck, and the sky was mostly clear, excepting for a few wisps of clouds. Very pretty night! The moon looked like someone had taken a bite out of the upper left hand side.

It is from a New Zealand newspaper - the first images I was able to find. I guess since they are in the Southern Hemisphere that they were upside down.

So pretty!

That is what I saw because I was doing a handstand as I watched ;). Thanks Kevy!

Why are you people never around when I'm up at 3am and bored? hmmm?

Maybe if you did shadow puppets on the moon we'd stay up.

I am still exhausted from staying up to watch it.

I take it you didnt see my laser light show

Missed it - But Caliope woke up Lisa at 4:30 to tell her, "Moons Back."

Were you trying to bounce them off the reflectors they set up on the moon? 'Cause that'd be swanky! :snap:

Calliope woke me up at 4:30 am the night of the eclipse. Chris said it was to say "Mom. Moon's back." :)

Been there, done that.

(I interned at an observatory that is part of that program one summer)

nah, I was only awake enough to do freehand smilie faces

Aw, crap! Had I known, I would have spent the evening up on deck, watching her over the ocean. :(

Just in case you missed it the first time around....

Mother nature has scheduled a do-over lunar eclipse for this Wednesday (2/20/08)

It's even at a much more humane time. For you West coasters it starts just as the sun goes down about 5:45pm.

Details here

Thanks for the heads up. Let's hope for a cloudless night here in Portland.

PS:

This is your last chance in the USofA until December 2010 so don't procrastinate.

We're supposed to have rain here the rest of this week, so I am not sure if we'll be able to see it.

Hummm... I better check my own forecast:

Damn.

Ran & snow here.

BOOOOOO

At least you get a cool Kurosawa flick.

Rain?

I REALLY need to locate the whereabouts of my REI Rain Jacket.

I've suggested to Rose that we turn out all the lights, pop open a bottle of wine, and blast Dark Side of the Moon in 5.1 surround to honor the evening's event- but she just wants to watch tv :(

No problem. Just put on the Wizard of Oz.

Darn. We miss it. :(

Hahaha, during the last lunar eclipse that this thread started with, I listened to Dark Side of the Moon on my iPod as I watched it. Tee and Hee.

Well, rain seemed to no longer be in the forecast for tomorrow, though I'm starting to not believe a word the weatherman says. Apparently, we have the worst air conditions in the nation right now (due to some weather phenomenon mixed in with California, Nevada and local pollutants - they call them Red Days), though I'm guessing it's more toward SLC, because the skies are clear at the moment. I hope it stays this way for tomorrow.


Then I can get my eclipse on!

The forecast says we'll have 100% cloud cover tomorrow night.

Frickin Oregon. :(

Clouds look likely for the Bay Area as well.

BE: We had horrible air a few days ago, tapering out over the weekend, so I'm not surprised if that blew toward you.

Well, i was just outside at 3pm, and here on the Westside of L.A., it's rapidly clearing.

That could be good news for tonight!

The totality of the Lunar Eclipse will be roughly from 7 to 8 pm local time!

No moon for me. It has been raining/windy all day. As much as I would love to star gaze tonight, I am enjoying having actual weather.

Im hoping to get a look at this myself. there are holes right now in the cloud cover here, but if it holds or not for tonite is pretty iffy looking.

Ooh, I hope so! I'll be driving up to Anaheim around that time, so I'll actually be able to see it! :) (provided the air clears appropriately)

Costa Mesa is cloudy and icky at the moment.

I will be on the road for the beginning of it (leaving Costa Mesa at 5:00 to hopefully be in City of Industry by 7:00).

Yes, I currently see a blue sky out my window.

Checking with the Clear Sky Clock (browse for your nearest city or observatory) and it says Portland will be nearly clear. Woohoo!

Don't forget totality is the boring part. It's the bits before and after that are interesting......

Completely cloudy here in sunny Phoenix. That sucks.

Pretty clear up here in the North.:D

It's pretty cloudy here but VERY windy. The freakin cold wind may keep me inside.

Almost there..... Looking good and red.

(It cleared up here....)

That was a total trip.

First of all, so much better than last time. Comfortable hour, comfortable viewing angle.

So as the last little sliver of lit moon was still there, you could see the ruddy darkened part very clearly, but as soon as totality hit ... the moon completely disappeared into a L.A. night-lit sky that is the same color as the ruddiness.

It was like a David Copperfield trick of disappearing moon. So cool.


I'm gonna go back out in 45 minutes or so and watch it reappear. Neat!

Got stuck at work until 6 so ended up spending 45 minutes driving directly into the moon watching it slowly fade away.

Neat enough to provide something to look at under those circumstances, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it (which is why I never have until now).

Clouds suck.

clouds have parted...

WTVT fox 13 has a lot of coverage...

I got a few pics, but DAMN it was cold out there.

Very nice coming out of it, too. It's higher in the sky, and so doesn't match the color of it anymore. So the reappearance was less like a magic trick.

The celestial triangle of the eclipsed moon with yellow Saturn and blue Regulus is very pretty in the night sky.


Ooooh, it's so starry wondrous and illuminatingly lovely.


:cheers:

Couldn't see anything.

****!

Nothing visible with the thickness that is the smog and cloud-cover that we're stuck with at the moment. Tomorrow... hopefully tomorrow. Since I was fortunate enough to live near the ocean while I was in Cali, I didn't ever have to deal with the madness that is smog. I was so spoiled, and I didn't know it until I saw the pristine Utah sky filled with crap.

Bleh.

The clouds just broke here so we could see a little.

We tried and tried all evening...but no such luck here. All we got was clouds and lightening. Now the wind and rain has hit. :mad:

I guess we have to wait another 3 years.

swanie

http://figment1986.smugmug.com/gallery/4377609_Lz4EP - a few more

There's some really lame pictures of it here (after you get through the pug pics and before the pics of my new hair cut).

We did indeed have a perfectly cloudless sky. It was awesome!

I got the telescope out and tried a little astrophotography for the first time. (By that I mean I held my little point-and-shoot up to the telescope's eyepiece and took some pictures.) Here are the better ones.

Eclipse totality:



Almost half-way out of the eclipse:



Then someone mentioned that Saturn was up there too so I pointed the camera at what I guessed to be Saturn and sure 'nuff. There it was! It was my first time seeing it through my telescope so I was pretty excited about that. I tried taking pictures of it but my hand wasn't steady enough for that. I need to get something I can use to mount my camera to the telescope if I want to pursue this astrophotography thing any further.

We had a large-ish group together to look through the telescope.

Fun night!

Fantastic pics, Bill!

I saw it.
It was cool.

Wow, those are awesome pics, Pirate Bill. The totality one just so totality captures the mystery and creepiness of the eclipsed moonscape.

And, gosh, figment1986, you captured the lovely Moon, Saturn, Regulus triangle just beautifully.


Nice stuff, boyz!

Very interesting. My first Eclipse that I can remember. I could see it outside my work window.
Hmm, Modesto brings the Tour of California too town with 10 World Champions and there is an eclipse. Sounds suspicious too me. :D ;)

I was parked and waiting for my ride - looked up and out the windshield and there it was! It was cloudy and I didn't see red but I was able to see it disappear and then begin to reappear between the clouds.

The other one was better.

We could see it fairly well once it had risen above the mountains behind us. It was reddish and very cool looking- like out of a horror movie.:D

I did not wake up at 3 AM to view it. We have been mostly overcast here though, so it was probably obscured by clouds.

Fine looking eclipse. Nice job, everyone.

I'm proud.

This is the first time in my adult life that I'm really proud of the moon and the umbra and the way they came together to bring about change. Even if the change was short lived it shows a rising sense of urgency and dedication that old hopes for change can finally be realized.

Smartass.:p

When I was trekking up the 57 freeway last night around 5:30 - 6:00 I was amazed at how open the freeway was (speeds at maximum all the way from the Orange Crush to almost the 60). When we hit a patch where neither the clouds nor the hills were in the way and you could see the moon, there was a sudden slowdown in traffic. As soon as the hills were in the way again, traffic opened back up.

Ah, the Disneyland fireworks effect that happens nightly on the 5.



As for myself, I am most proud of arranging for Saturn and Regulus to cooperate with each other (such animus there due to jealousy) in forming a beautiful triad with the eclipsed moon of Alex's doing.

Since anything points form a triangle I think you're letting them languish under the discrimination of diminished expectations. Now, if they'd formed a square, that would be pride worthy.

I am so proud of my friends and for being a part of nature. We all worked together to make thing change happen.

Good job everyone. Good job.

An octagon would be cause for a National celebration.

funny i was staring at the eclipse and saw the words "heroes" flash and weird music playing

I was amused at the traffic report this morning. They said the 22 was flowing nicely with a speed of 70mph. The speed limit is 65. At least they tell the truth. :D

The drive home on the 22 east at 5:45 was cool with the whispy clouds and the shrinking moon. Very nice!

Watched it with the doormen as I was going into the Ducks game. The moon skirted in an out of the clouds but I was able to obtain an entertaining glimpse.