I forgot about it, but fortunately Eric texted me near totality, and I rushed out, yelling "Lunar Eclipse!" to David on my way outside.
I had a hard time finding the moon -- the Salvation Army store on Nicollet has put up some horrifically bright security lights on at least two sides of its building; the neighbors across the alley have changed the many, many lights on their enormous garage from motion-sensing to Always On and Glaring; and our next-door neighbors to the south have put over their back door an exceedingly bright motion-sensing light that sizzles away every time we walk down our own goddamn back sidewalk and takes way too long to go out.
I had to use the astronomy app Stellarium to find the moon at all, and when David joined me a bit later, he had to do the same with his own astronomy app. I ended up holding up my phone to block out the Salvation Army's assault on the senses, and then the look at the moon was actually quite good. I am always surprised at how things seem to be hazier where you are than in our yard -- it seemed very clear indeed to us.
The power lines in the alley eventually got in the way for me, and had always been in the way for David, who's taller, but we did get plenty of good views of a sulky red moon. What I really like about lunar eclipses is that the moon stops looking like a wafer stuck to a flat ceiling and becomes completely three-dimensional. That part is always very satisfying.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2022-05-16 11:53 pm (UTC)I had a hard time finding the moon -- the Salvation Army store on Nicollet has put up some horrifically bright security lights on at least two sides of its building; the neighbors across the alley have changed the many, many lights on their enormous garage from motion-sensing to Always On and Glaring; and our next-door neighbors to the south have put over their back door an exceedingly bright motion-sensing light that sizzles away every time we walk down our own goddamn back sidewalk and takes way too long to go out.
I had to use the astronomy app Stellarium to find the moon at all, and when David joined me a bit later, he had to do the same with his own astronomy app. I ended up holding up my phone to block out the Salvation Army's assault on the senses, and then the look at the moon was actually quite good. I am always surprised at how things seem to be hazier where you are than in our yard -- it seemed very clear indeed to us.
The power lines in the alley eventually got in the way for me, and had always been in the way for David, who's taller, but we did get plenty of good views of a sulky red moon. What I really like about lunar eclipses is that the moon stops looking like a wafer stuck to a flat ceiling and becomes completely three-dimensional. That part is always very satisfying.
P.