LUNAR Eclipse

snyprrr · December 20, 2010, 08:39:43 PM

Anyone planning on staying up?

springrite · December 20, 2010, 09:00:05 PM

Quote from: snyprrr on December 20, 2010, 08:39:43 PM
Anyone planning on staying up?

I will wait till it comes out on DVD and watch at my leisure.

Opus106 · December 20, 2010, 09:35:03 PM

Here's one webcast: http://www.ccssc.org/webcast.html -- the damn thing needs Silverlight to work!

secondwind · December 20, 2010, 10:52:27 PM

Watching . . . In Punta Gorda, FL

snyprrr · December 21, 2010, 08:52:30 AM

Yea, it was pretty impressive,...nic e and red!

snyprrr · December 21, 2010, 08:53:02 AM

Quote from: secondwind on December 20, 2010, 10:52:27 PM
Watching . . . In Punta Gorda, FL

Punta Gorda?

? $:-\$

$:-\$

Daverz · December 21, 2010, 01:57:31 PM

I was up, but it was raining here in San Diego.

Bummer, because supposedly there won't be another total lunar eclipse (I assume they mean over this part of the Earth) until 2094. But I have seen one before.

snyprrr · December 21, 2010, 05:53:30 PM

The show lasted for a good few hours. I heard it had been four hundred years since this particular type happened?, or,...

springrite · December 21, 2010, 05:59:32 PM

Quote from: Daverz on December 21, 2010, 01:57:31 PM
I was up, but it was raining here in San Diego.

Bummer, because supposedly there won't be another total lunar eclipse (I assume they mean over this part of the Earth) until 2094. But I have seen one before.

Thank goodness I will still be around!

Gurn Blanston · December 21, 2010, 06:13:05 PM

No, the rarity is overstressed because of the combination of circumstances.

There was a lunar eclipse as recently as last summer, IIRC. And there will likely be another in 2011, I haven't checked yet.

It is the combination of a lunar eclipse on Solstice Day that is 400 years waiting for, and the next one will be <> 80 years from now.

Those of us for whom Solstice Day is the High Holiday, this was a marvelous thing. For everyone else, it was just cool.

springrite · December 21, 2010, 06:15:32 PM

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on December 21, 2010, 06:13:05 PM
No, the rarity is overstressed because of the combination of circumstances. There was a lunar eclipse as recently as last summer, IIRC. And there will likely be another in 2011, I haven't checked yet.
It is the combination of a lunar eclipse on Solstice Day that is 400 years waiting for, and the next one will be <> 80 years from now.
Those of us for whom Solstice Day is the High Holiday, this was a marvelous thing. For everyone else, it was just cool.

They always try to make as big a deal as they can. Solstice or no Solstice, I am not that interested in lunar eclipses. Solar eclipes are far more interesting.

Gurn Blanston · December 21, 2010, 06:20:47 PM

Quote from: springrite on December 21, 2010, 06:15:32 PM
They always try to make as big a deal as they can. Solstice or no Solstice, I am not that interested in lunar eclipses. Solar eclipes are far more interesting.

Absolutely! I've only seen 1 bitchin' good one, back in <>1983 or so when I lived in Dallas. And even that one wasn't total on our trajectory. They always seem to happen at some part of the world that I can't get to right now... $:-\$

Daverz · December 21, 2010, 08:18:28 PM

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on December 21, 2010, 06:13:05 PM
No, the rarity is overstressed because of the combination of circumstances.

There was a lunar eclipse as recently as last summer, IIRC. And there will likely be another in 2011, I haven't checked yet.

It is the combination of a lunar eclipse on Solstice Day that is 400 years waiting for, and the next one will be <> 80 years from now.

Those of us for whom Solstice Day is the High Holiday, this was a marvelous thing. For everyone else, it was just cool.

Ah, I should have known better. I did think it sounded odd, because I thought lunar eclipses were as common as dirt.

Opus106 · December 21, 2010, 09:32:48 PM

The last word on eclipses: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html

By the way, the previous "Solstice Lunar Eclipse" happened 372 years ago.

Daverz · December 22, 2010, 10:00:03 AM

Here's a list of solar eclipses in the 21st century:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century

Looks like if I don't want to travel, the next total solar eclipse here in Southern California will be in 2052, but there will be one in 2017 that passes over Oregon and another in 2024 over the central US (during the 2nd and 3rd Palin administrations, respectively).

secondwind · December 22, 2010, 07:06:55 PM

Quote from: snyprrr on December 21, 2010, 08:53:02 AM
Punta Gorda?? $:-\$ $:-\$

Punta Gorda!

Ah, the dangers of choosing an emoticon on a miniature iPhone display by the non-light of an eclipsed moon. . . I thought I was getting mere wide-eyed amazement, not shock and horror.

The sky in southern Florida was perfectly clear, and it was a thrill to watch the curved shadow of the earth slowly draw across the moon, changing it from a brilliant, almost white light to a smoldering mottled dull orange. Whenever I thought the process was getting a little tedious, there were some shooting stars to liven things up. The only thing that would have improved my viewing would have been to drive out away from the ground light, which I didn't bother to do. This was the best excuse I've had for staying up all night in a long time. I'm glad I had a chance to see it.