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Look At That Red Moon!
About three days ago, I read that there was going to be a lunar eclipse today. Because I didn't really think much of it at the time, I did not file the information in my immediate short-term memory. Now, ordinarily, this is a topic that gets me bristling—I'd do anything to be able to observe these nice little astrological or cosmological changes.
After the daily grind therefore, I returned home, casually flipped on the television and sank into the sofa. It was at this precise moment that the lady on CNN reminded me of the lunar eclipse that we are supposed to see tonight. My reaction, now that I think of it, was spontaneous enough to evoke laughter. I immediately sprang to my feet and dashed to get my camera. Immediately I got the camera, I dashed outside like a mad paparazzo trailing some retreating celebrity. Anyone who saw me run out into this winter's cold night with nary a thought for a jacket or shoes may have wondered what the issue was.
As soon as I got outside and scanned for a good portion of the night's sky, a sigh of disappointment escaped from me. Why? I missed the bleeding lunar eclipse! A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth gets between the sun and the moon. This event will cause the moon to pass under the earth's shadow thus cutting it off from a full supply of the light it usually reflects from the sun. The effect is that the scant illumination reaching the moon after being refracted from the earth's atmosphere will give the moon a reddish tinge.
"If I had come out a little earlier," I thought, "I could have seen the moon give off a reddish glow! Now I just have to settle with this image of a red sky."
With that, I took a quick picture of the night sky at 7:37pm and trudged back inside.
I went to upload the picture and then I decided to do a little search to see whether I could see some delightful pictures of the eclipse. Can you imagine my relief then when I read this?
"Observers in eastern North America and South America will find the moon already partially or totally eclipsed by the time it rises over the horizon Saturday evening.
Alaska, eastern Australia and New Zealand will miss the show altogether.
The next total lunar eclipse will occur Aug. 28."
Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait till Aug 28 then. But seriously, who cares about a lunar eclipse? I imagine that most people will only be slightly interested if we are talking about a total solar eclipse. Lunar eclipse, meteor showers, comets and things of that nature just may not motivate many hardworking regular folks trying to make ends meet.
