The full eclipse, viewed through telescope
We dropped by the Lowell Observatory just to see about their hours, when we learned of the full lunar eclipse the following day, and with a super moon and a blood moon, this was going to be a doozy! We spent about an hour hearing a lecture on the lunar eclipse, what a super moon means (about 10,000 miles closer in orbit to the earth, so it appears about 12-13% larger in the sky) and what a blood moon means (4 eclipses in a row with six lunar months).
The reason it was a full eclipse was the moon would be completely covered by the shadow cast by the earth (umbra), resulting in a full lunar eclipse. We learned about the founding of the Lowell observatory and how it was the observatory that was used to discover Pluto, and then it was off to see the eclipse. Starting out already partially eclipsed, the rising moon at 18:15 pm made for some interesting photos along the horizon, with the earth shadow cast against the evening sky.
At the beginning of the eclipse
We stayed to watch through the various telescopes and binoculars provided as the moon was plunged into darkness and then "redness" as it passed within the earth's shadow. The reason it is red, is that red light wave lengths are the longest, and thus can be seen when other light waves have been scattered by the atmosphere. So, in the "darkness" only the red light can still be seen and thus is appears as a red moon. We watched as the whole thing transpired, with the greatest eclipse at about 8:47 pm on September 27, 2015!
Of course, we didn't just sit there gazing at the sky for 4.5 hours, but looked at the other rooms, observatories, and showcases. Overall, this was a very fortuitous discovery and a fabulous experience.
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