One of the perks of living where we do in the wilds of East Anglia rather than in the hustle and bustle of London or Dublin is that we don’t suffer from a lot of light pollution. Since both my husband and I are quite interested in space related things; this is a boon for us. Also good is that I brought my own telescope to the marriage!
This evening we are having an eclipse of the moon, and thankfully also a very clear night. Earlier it was a little cloudy but now its very clear and the stars are wonderful; Orion is very clear, even the sword which is often too faint or hazy is easily seen. The moon, however, is just amazing.
The first thing that strikes you, isn’t so much the orange light caused by particles in the atmosphere, but rather than the shadow doesn’t move across the moon from side to side, as you might expect from watching the moon wax and wane but rather from bottom to top (albeit at a slight, jaunty angle), much like the famous ‘Earth Rise’ shot.
As of 11:30 pm the moon is pretty much completely orange and it is very cold out side. Unfortunately our little Canon IXUS isn’t up to the task of taking any decent photos in the dark, and the few I’ve taken through the ‘scope are a bit wonky.
Here’s Jon, bundled up in his nice new dual layer fleece/gore-tex coat, all toasty warm. I was wearing a cardigan and my hands still haven’t thawed out yet!
He’s so happy! With such a small telescope!
Imagine if he had a larger one… it’d be like… CHESHIRE!