The Lunar Eclipse

This morning the older three kids and I got up dark and early to see the lunar eclipse.  This is the second of four taking place in a space of approximately two years--a tetrad.  They are all visible from North America, so hopefully Ariadne and Charles will be able to get in on one of the others.  

I remember seeing a beautiful orange eclipse like this one at my Grandparents' one summer night when I was about 11.  My sister my mom and grandma and I all camped out on their back patio, watching the moon as an orange shadow spread across its face.  That was my first eclipse.  

Back when I was six (that would be 1986), we saw Haley's Comet at my other grandparents.  They lived way out in the country, up on a hill where the dark skies spread all around.  My dad held me and pointed way up into that dark sky where the comet was streaking along.  

But my first memory of the night sky goes back to when I was about Aria's age, two, or maybe three. I remember riding in the umbrella stroller while my dad pointed up and said 'look at the stars,' pointing them out.  I may have been having an asthma attack.  I've been told my parents took me outside because the night air helped, but all I remember is looking at the stars with my dad.  

Anyway, suffice it to say my family shouldn't be surprised that I am hauling my kids out of bed in the wee hours to look at the sky.   Charlotte helped me make hot chocolate, which we had together with hard boiled eggs as we watched the moon turn a dark orange bit by bit.  

Salgos decided to join us.  

Here the moon is in half eclipse. It looks like it is caught in the branches of the tree, just like in James Thurber's Many Moons.  This is about where it was when we woke up. 

Nova and Solomon walked up to the park with me to see the moon come out of eclipse (it was too low in the sky to see from our house by that time).  We even got the telescope to work. All of the close-ups were taken through the telescope.  It was only a 10x magnification, but it made a big difference.

Nova recalled watching an eclipse sitting on our steps drinking hot chocolate or tea when she was little--I do too.  We watched our first lunar eclipse together when Nova was four and Solomon was six.  We still lived in Hopkins at the time and they were the only two kids--a world ago.  

One of the coolest parts I wasn't even expecting.  When the sun was full up the moon was a little past half way out of eclipse and right at that band of the horizon where it is magnified immensely.  It looked huge!  I ran around the neighborhood with the telescope, trying to find a place we could set it up at look at this 'super moon' eclipse, but by the time I found a spot it was too late.  It is actually behind the trees to the right, but you really can't tell.  The school buses were out, it was morning. Though they would have liked to skip the running and were more affected by the cold, the kids enjoyed it almost as much as I did.