The Lunar Eclipse…

December 10, 2011 | Astronomy | By: Mark VandeWettering

Okay, I did wake up for the lunar eclipse this morning. At 5:30 my alarm went off. I pulled on some clothes, wandered out to the front yard, and sure enough, the moon was already being devoured by the Earth’s shadow. I went back inside, and got my old pair of tripod-mounted aircraft spotting binoculars, and set them up across the street. Carmen joined me, and we got a nice view as the shadow covered the moon. I had Carmen’s Canon G11 but I don’t use it often enough, and was frankly too sleepy to figure it out, but I did manage to snap a few shots of it using my iPhone through the binoculars. Here is one of the best.

By the time 6:30 rolled around, the skies were brightening and the moon was sinking into the offshore clouds. We headed to Starbucks, and got a coffee, but that was it.

The eclipse was very dark though: darker than I remember seeing. And deep red. And my bifocals aren’t the greatest thing for staring at distant objects. But the binoculars worked out great.