[Rockhounds] blue moon vs orange moon

[Alan Goldstein]

The weather was definitely chilly (low 20's). It was a beautiful eclipse 
because the air was about as dry as it gets. There wasn't a cloud in the sky 
(unusual for February!) although the morning was nearly completely overcast. 
The color was orangish red on the side closest to the center, while the edge 
closest to the outside of the of Earth's shadow was brighter with more of 
grayish tinge.

I brought home a 3.5" bird-watching scope from work, but eventually hauled 
out my 13" telescope from the garage (moving it all of about 6'). I held the 
camera up to the eyepiece, pressed the shutter and hoped that I didn't move 
or nudge the eyepiece out of focus. I got some decent pix which I'll try to 
post.

At one point the moon passed in front of a bright star. It was fun watching 
the star appear to hover right on the moon's surface and then wink out. I 
haven't seen an occultation (that's what it is called when the moon passes 
in front of a star or planet) during an eclipse which was that spectacular 
in about 20 years. But you needed a telescope to see it because the star was 
too dim for the naked eye.

Alan S. provided some detail about why eclipse vary in color and darkness, 
so I need not repeat that information. In the summer the haze so typical of 
the eastern half of the U.S. can make naked eye eclipse-viewing more 
challenging during mid totality - especially in an urban area.

Alan


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "DonH" <donhalterman at verizon.net>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:47 PM
Subject: [Rockhounds] blue moon


>
> Well I took 45 mins. away from data analysis to check all this out.  I 
> wish I had that time back.  When is it supposed to turn bright colors? The 
> stupid thing disappeared, turned a little orange, then started coming 
> back.
>
> Disappointed Don