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I got rather slapped last time I tried this but in for a penny, in for a pound... let's try again.

Is anyone intending to look upward and see what tonight's lunar eclipse looks like?

It starts at 07:41 GMT, so Americans take off anywhere between 5 and 8 hours from that for local time. Unlike solar eclipses, it takes a long time.

I am going to try but we currently have a lovley cloud covering.

Looking upward at the moment will just get me a face full of snow. Its currently snowing the equivalent of the cats and dogs you get when it rains

I've never bothered to understand what to look for and why it matters. Maybe someone would like to educate me on that.

spot;1347462 wrote: I got rather slapped last time I tried this but in for a penny, in for a pound... let's try again.

Is anyone intending to look upward and see what tonight's lunar eclipse looks like?

It starts at 07:41 GMT, so Americans take off anywhere between 5 and 8 hours from that for local time. Unlike solar eclipses, it takes a long time.


Alas! I'd love to see it but we have had heavy rain storms and cloud cover and it looks like it will continue for a few days in my area.

Ahso!;1347490 wrote: I've never bothered to understand what to look for and why it matters. Maybe someone would like to educate me on that.


Saw one about 30 some years ago.

Actually kinda cool. Assuming, of course, you have a good, unobstructed view of the moon.

As the fill moon advances into the shadow of the Earth, one side starts getting a bit darker, and takes on a reddish hue, Then the dark section grows, and eventually, the whole moon gets itno the Earth shadow, and becomes nearly backed out. You will barely be able to see it for a minute or so, then the edge leading edges catches a little bit of light, and slowly, it returns to full.

If you have never seen one, I highly recommend finding a comfortable place to hang out and watch it.

You may have to find some place warm, and run outside every now and again to check the progress.

Pretty interesting phenomenon, actually.

The shadow begins to advance across the moon about 1:30 EST

Totality begins about 2:41 EST, and will last about an hour.

Yes, I plan to watch the lunar eclipse tonight as long as I can stay awake. I took the picture below about 7:30 P.M. tonight as the moon was rising in the East above the sea. I'll take more later on, but I'm not sure how well the pictures will come out. I only have a simple Nikon Cool Pix.

I made a post about the eclipse in my astronomy picture thread...

post #381...

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/space ... ost1347285

The eclipse will reach totality by 3:17 Tuesday morning....

Lunar Eclipse Greets Winter | njtoday.net – Everything New Jersey

Here's the picture I took. I'll post more tomorrow if my camera takes a successful picture showing the reddish color of the moon. There's a beautiful haze around the moon right now that the picture doesn't show.

Attached files

There is just a light mist in the air, here, and the moon is shining brightly through.

If it does not thicken up into full cloud cover, it should be quite amazing when it gets to totality.

I hope I can get a decent pic.

Looked promising bright blue skies overhead but where the moon would be it is overcast so I can't see it. Huge banks of clouds coming in and it feels like minus 5 or lower.

I, sadly, have nothing but solid cloud cover from horizon to zenith, so the first total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice since 1638 has escaped me.

There's a solar eclipse in a half lunar month though, when the moon shifts round the planet. I'll try for that.

I woke up in time to see some of it until clouds got in the way.

The sky has cleared again, but the eclipse appears to be just about over. Only the bottom of the moon is shadowed out.

Huffpost has some photos.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight: 2010 Winter Solstice To Coincide With Total Full Moon Eclipse On December 20, 21 (PHOTOS)

I'm sorry that you missed the eclipse Spot. It was truly brilliant, and I'll never forget the experience of seeing this eclipse, especially on winter solstice day:-6

Even though I had to leave for work on the 21st at 7 A.M., I decided to stay up all night to watch the event.

The night was crystal clear, and I could see the event right from my bed. I watched for about 4 hours, saw the moon passing through the Earth's shadow from East to West slowly, as it turned to an orange and red hue.....kind of looked like a maple syrup color. As the moon passed through the Earth's shadow, the moon slowly turned to a whitish color from north to south until it was all white.

An historical event for me....one that I will never forget...Spectacular!!!!

My camera and cell phone were unable to take a proper picture:(

I too got to see it, we had light cloud but not enough to obliterate the view. We sat outside bundled in our snow gear and guilts for 1.5 hours in lawn chairs in our back alley watching it. It was awesome. Cant wait for the next one... in 400+ years...