Ok, so I got into a debate with Mini-Dew the other night about the state of the moon. You see, when it is close to full, she calls it full, and I tell her that only once in every 28 day cycle is it completely full. She doesn't believe me.
Outside of the one day of full moon, there are varying stages of fullness, which might appear full, but we cannot see the full face of the moon. Yesterday was our full moon for the month. The next won't occur until December 2. If you click on the graphic above, you will see the year of moon phases.
In honor of the phases, I decided to post my shots of 2008's lunar eclipse, where the phases are mimicked in the course of the eclipse, which is caused by the earth passing briefly between the sun and a full moon.February 2008 lunar eclipse ― The only total lunar eclipse of 2008 occurred on February 21, 2008, beginning at 01:43 UTC, visible from Europe, the Americas, and Africa. The next total lunar eclipse will occur on December 21, 2010.
My favorite stage is when the moon is fully eclipsed and it glows red in the shadow.
The following scale (the Danjon scale) was devised by André Danjon for rating the overall darkness of lunar eclipses:[3]
Makes you want to howl, doesn't it?
L=0: Very dark eclipse. Moon almost invisible, especially at mid-totality.
L=1: Dark Eclipse, gray or brownish in coloration. Details distinguishable only with difficulty.
L=2: Deep red or rust-colored eclipse. Very dark central shadow, while outer edge of umbra is relatively bright.
L=3: Brick-red eclipse. Umbral shadow usually has a bright or yellow rim.
L=4: Very bright copper-red or orange eclipse. Umbral shadow is bluish and has a very bright rim.
Aside from that, temperatures across the nation start to plunge into a more seasonally appropriate range, as a high pressure line-up rolls in taking over almost the entire country with clear skies and cool breezes.
I wouldn't expect this too change anytime too soon, which is good news for those areas recovering from recent flooding.
Have a great day!
~Dewdrop
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Mooooon....
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Ah Ooooooooo!
ReplyDeleteOh, how lovely. I find it nearly impossible to take lunar photos with my little camera. Ah, sigh.
ReplyDeleteLast night we had the most beautiful hunter's moon. So bright and crisply clear--it's a miracle to think it just hangs there on nothing but gravity, circling our earth.