Sorry about the picture, it's the best I could get. Ok, so I've seen them before but it's still fascinating. There was (and still is) a total lunar eclipse tonight. Learn about it here. My mom called to remind me...whew, thanks Mom. I would have forgotten. The kiddos were already in bed and the best view of the eclipse was from the sliding door in our bedroom. We grabbed some pillows and a big blanket and cozied up on the floor to watch the lunar spectacle unfold. Me, my honey, comfy and cozy, with a cup of Mocha watching a lunar eclipse... a perfect date! Unexpected, spontaneous, beautiful, peaceful...just what we needed!
They teach you about space and stuff in school and it is all very fascinating but unless I see it firsthand, it's not concrete to me. So whenever I experience something that I learned about long ago, I try to look it up to see if I can jog my memory into learning what my teachers taught me so many years ago. Here's what I learned or re-learned tonight:
- We won't have another total lunar eclipse until 2010.
- The full shadow on the moon is called the umbral shadow.
- Christopher Columbus used a total lunar eclipse in 1504 to frighten natives on Jamaica into feeding his crew. They were scared of its red color.
- The depth of the reddness of the shadow is dependent on the dust and particles in the atmosphere.
- Recent volcanic eruptions can cause it to have a deeper shade of red. ( I definately didn't know that!)
That all sounds so scientific when really it was just a beautiful evening with my hubby!
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