Total lunar eclipse TONIGHT Dec 20-21
 

I'm not an astronomy aficionado, but I try to catch a glimpse of stuff when it doesn't require me going too far out of my way and it's visible without a telescope, like meteor showers and stuff.

Tonight there is a total lunar eclipse that will be visible in all of North America and various other parts of the world. The penumbra (faint) will hit at 1:15 a.m. EST, then the umbra (noticeable disk of darkness) at 1:33 a.m. EST. Totality begins at 2:41 a.m. EST and will last for 72 minutes.

Apparently the last time there was a total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice was a few hundred years ago. I'm probably going to set my alarm and try to catch at least a few minutes of it. The last time I froze my ass off staring up at the sky was for the Leonid meteor shower when they were particularly strong, in like 2001 I think. Good times.

So totality means you can't see it? I'm not going outside to look at something I can't see. Maybe the penumbra or umbra... but even then... meh.

My understanding is that you'll still be able to see the moon, but in totality it will be fairly dark and will likely have an odd hue, maybe orange-reddish. Not sure. I don't know that I've ever seen a total lunar eclipse.

Well this blows, freezing rain with heavy cloud cover. Damnit.

I got a perfect view. And Booooooozzz.

I had one! Till a fuckin cloud decided to get in the fuckin way....... FAWK!

Here's my contribution:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5166/...1830316d_o.jpg

On a side note, I went back outside to see if there was a break in the clouds. Nope.....

But I did hear a cat getting fucked. :giggle:

Extremely heavy cloud cover here made focusing difficult, but I did manage 1 shot.

it was lame, I went inside and saved the strain on my neck

I saw an eclipse of the insides of my eyelids.

I forgot to wake back up and look at it.

I thought it was tonight. Fuck. :vash:

Does this have anything to do with the ending of days??

nothing at all.

I definitely also did not see the moon last night. Awesome. The book I was reading and the whiskey I was drinking, however, were more than satisfactory.

We had light clouds at the beginning that made it a little fuzzy, but it cleared up nicely. I looked at it every few minutes, during the commercials while I was watching Top Gear, and I managed to stay awake until it was a few minutes into totality. Got some pretty cool deep red and orange colors. I don't have any pics worth posting because I only have shitty point & shoot cameras.

Here's a good timelapse:

Wow. Wish I could have seen that. I tried to stay up but fell asleep around 1:45.

I saw its blood red hue. It was preety sweet when the clouds weren't covering it up.