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Lunar eclipse tonight!


earthlight

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never seen something like this from the city.. amazing.

Thats about all you can see in the city (in the night sky at least lol.) My first astronomical sight was a total lunar eclipse from Brooklyn back in the early 80s! It was one of the brightest (reddest) lunar eclipses ever, and it was followed by one of the darkest eclipses ever (El Chicon lunar eclipse) in December 1982-- by which time I'd moved to Long Island.

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The polar ice cap is making a heavy advance on the moon now..commence ice age. It's as if we saw the moon go from global warming to ice age in an hour.

Amazing logic I am displaying currently...4:00am posts are the best.

Yes they are :P This kind of thing happened back in 1982-83, when we had a big total lunar eclipse, followed by a big snowstorm :thumbsup:

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Alex..amazing shots. The light coming around the edges of the moon right now is incredible. The inspiration for my username. "When the Moon is in its crescent phase (here the waxing crescent), or in the midst of a total lunar eclipse, you can see its nighttime side lit by earthlight, sunlight reflected by the Earth, creating a glorious sight in a dark blue evening twilight sky."

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Alex..amazing shots. The light coming around the edges of the moon right now is incredible. The inspiration for my username. "When the Moon is in its crescent phase (here the waxing crescent), or in the midst of a total lunar eclipse, you can see its nighttime side lit by earthlight, sunlight reflected by the Earth, creating a glorious sight in a dark blue evening twilight sky."

Very poetic, John! It reminds me of what they say about the new moon holding part of the old moon "in her arms" during the crescent phase.

I like this definition from Arthur C Clarke also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthlight_(astronomy)

Earthlight is the partial illumination of the dark portion of the moon's surface by light reflected from the earth. It is also known as earthshine, the Moon's ashen glow or the old Moon in the new Moon's arms.

This phenomenon is best observed just after new moon, when the moon is a thin crescent. On these nights it is easy to see the entire disk of the moon. The word is rare[citation needed] but is recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary.

It would also be a suitable term for an observer on the moon seeing the Earth during the lunar night. Arthur C. Clarke uses it in this sense in his novel Earthlight.

You should read that novel if you get a chance.

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By the way, what in the world is that to the left of the moon in your images? I saw it with my naked eye and noted it earlier in the thread. It was really bright especially as the eclipse was just starting.

That bright orangish star to the left of the moon? It's a star in Orion-- the brightest constellation in the sky. I looked it up in SN and it's called BQ Orionis, apparently its a variable star 805 light years away and it changes color as it changes brightness (star color is a function of surface temps, and as the star cools or warms, it dims or brightens and changes color from yellow to orange to red.) Stars like this are unstable and will likely either go nova or supernova sometime in the future. It's listed as being 36 times larger the sun.

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That bright orangish star to the left of the moon? It's a star in Orion-- the brightest constellation in the sky. I looked it up in SN and it's called BQ Orionis, apparently its a variable star 805 light years away and it changes color as it changes brightness (star color is a function of surface temps, and as the star cools or warms, it dims or brightens and changes color from yellow to orange to red.) Stars like this are unstable and will likely either go nova or supernova sometime in the future. It's listed as being 36 times larger the sun.

Wow. That's incredible. Awesome information thanks for relaying it. :thumbsup:

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