For those having a desire to observe Thursday’s late night total lunar eclipse, the day did not open with favorable fortunes as heavy pouring rain doused South County residential areas.
For those requiring a morning commute, they were greeted with rushing water along curbs, vehicles spraying water in every direction and unfortunate citizens left scurrying to find dry shelter.
It was a wet mess.
An umbrella was a must, don’t even think about a telescope!
It continued to rain on and off throughout the day, though not quite as hard. Patches of blue started to appear by mid-afternoon and there was hope more openings between the fast-moving clouds would manifest themselves after dark.
The Full March Worm Moon was bright when it finally emerged through the clouds, very bright, in fact, shining a ray of hope on nocturnal observers making last-minute preparations to observe the impending celestial event.
The moon was projected to enter the penumbral phase about 9:30 p.m. local time. The first darkening of the edge of the lunar disk was scheduled to occur at 10:09 p.m. The total phase when the moon would be fully engulfed in the Earth’s shadow was set to last from 11:26 p.m. to 12:32 a.m. on Friday, March 14. Mid-eclipse was slated for 11:59 p.m., the bewitching hour.
But Mother Nature had other things in store. It began to lightly rain deep into the partial phase and beginning of totality. Large gaps of observing time was wiped out as large puffy clouds, swollen with moisture, traversed the sky.
Photographer Jon Bigornia imaged the eclipse from Eastlake
When the moon did enter a clear spot, it only seemed to attract a mist around it and became further engulfed in sky fog.
Totality lasted one hour and six minutes. It began to sprinkle toward the ending of that run, leaving photographers with a less than spectacular observing window.
The exit from totality to the partial phase in reverse order was greeted by a deepening haze. In a rarely observed event, the partially eclipsed moon had a ghostly ring around it.
Besides the nuisance of partly cloudy — or at times, even fully cloudy —skies, the 45 degree nighttime temperature with a chilly wind also dampened enthusiasm.
The moon passed just north of the center line of the eclipse which left the northern limb discernably brighter than then southern limb. The full moon was bright to start and only about halfway through the partial phase was the lunar orb darkened sufficiently to reveal the dark mare and craters on the surface.
Then, as the eclipsed moon shrank in size, any noticeable landmarks began to fade away and instead shrouded in an eerie orange-red hue. It was a dark eclipse and spotting the veiled disk between clouds became a challenge at times.
The Earth’s shadow traversed the moon’s Ocean of Storms, quite appropriately, then covered the Mare Imbrium basin before engulfing the Apollo 11 landing site. Mare Crisium, a scar left from an ancient asteroid impact, eventually gave away at the other side of the lunar disk.
Colors ranged from a deep purple to a copper for photographers capturing the event. Longer exposure images revealed a rosy-hued disk surrounded by faint stars. Astro-photographers couldn’t be too picky considering the weather but there were plenty of snippets during the five-hour sky show to make for a day of editing and posting.
The next total lunar eclipse is Sept. 7 but it will only be visible from Africa, India, Indonesia, Australia and parts of Antarctica.
