Bye bye moon

[dreamshark]

We are getting a moderately good view of the lunar eclipse, which is now at totality. The sky is hazy enough to obscure all but the brightest stars and the moon is a little fuzzy, but you could definitely see it gradually turning into a big pink grapefruit. 

Comments

[dreamshark]

"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."

Probably different definitions of hazy. We had no trouble seeing the moon, but very few stars were visible without binoculars. Even with binoculars we couldn't see the mountains on the moon, but Richard realized later that this was probably because the moon was probably completely covered by the penumbra when we started watching, even though the full umbra was still moving in.

[pameladean]

I've been giving this far more thought than it probably deserves, but it's likely that I attributed some of the effects of haze to the EXTREMELY ANNOYING light pollution produced by neighbors and nearby businesses. I wished I had a BB gun several times.

It also may have cleared up at some point, at least right overhead, since I was able to see quite a few stars there as I went back inside.

P.