Western U.S. States to See Unusual Total Lunar Eclipse Early Saturday Morning

[BoldHighlander]

"The eclipse will officially begin at 3:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), but not until 4:45 a.m. PST will Earth’s umbral shadow start darkening the moon’s edges. Total eclipse is set to begin at 6:06 a.m., and last for 51 minutes.

Sky watchers in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest will see the fully eclipsed moon emerge from Earth’s shadow just before sunrise."


Full story here:
Western U.S. States to See Unusual Total Lunar Eclipse Early Saturday Morning

[BoldHighlander]

Well, I wasn't going to stay up all night for the whole show, but at about 5:54 am (pacific time), more or less, the wife & I stepped out to the car so I could take her to work. OH CRUD! CLOUDS!
Fortunately though, there was enough of a hole that we could see a sliver of moon and then .... blup! It was gone!
Shortly it reappeared as a sliver and within a moment or two I could faintly see the rest of it as a darkened shadow.
I had to get Ami to work, so as we drove I tried to keep one eye on it, but those blasted clouds kept trying to ruin my fun. Finally, as we got near the wife's work the clouds thinned out enough that I could see a nearly full and orange'ish moon. Cool!

So, anyone else see the eclipse?

[Panache]

Star's alarm didn't go off but fortnately our wee daughter (well perhaps not so wee now) woke us up about 5:45 AM. The moon had almost been fully eclipsed and we had a gorgeous view of the red moon with our binoculars.

Really something and I am glad the girl woke us all up for it.

Cheers

Jamie

[Macman]

We didn't set the alarm, but my internal alarm went off at about 5:55. Anna and I got up and watched it for about 30 minutes through our living room window. We were lucky it was bright and clear, and also nice and warm inside.

[thoth51]

It happened here at about 10pm our time. Fortunately the sky was cloudless and I watched it go from 3/4 eclipsed to a dim reddish disc. In the old days the Chinese believed a celestial dog was swallowing the moon and would bang pots and pans to drive it off. It must be a very old custom because I've never seen it in my 40+ years.

[BoldHighlander]

Thanks for sharing that great photo!

In the old days the Chinese believed a celestial dog was swallowing the moon and would bang pots and pans to drive it off. It must be a very old custom because I've never seen it in my 40+ years.

I seem to recall that some of our Native American Indian tribes at one time thought a giant snake was swallowing the moon during the lunar eclipse. As I watched the sliver of it suddenly disappear, it did remind me of those stories!

[BoldHighlander]

Jamie & Dave, I'm glad you both got the opportunity to see it.

...and given the weather conditions/temperatures up this way,
I think next time I'll take a page from Dave's game book!

[Macman]

Jamie & Dave, I'm glad you both got the opportunity to see it.

...and given the weather conditions/temperatures up this way,
I think next time I'll take a page from Dave's game book!

We were just lucky, Terry. I got up and wasn't sure where the moon would be, so I was looking all over the place (still kind of disoriented from waking up!). Then I saw it through the living room window! We've just had our windows replaced so I could actually see out of it.

thoth51, great picture!