The Last Lunar Eclipse (At Least for A While)


Last night marked the last lunar eclipse until December of 2010. Nearly three years away. But if you were around last night, and you were in a clear location you got to see a beautiful full lunar eclipse. It was fantastic. I sat on the backporch of a house with a large cup of tea and watched the moon slowly disappear. Some people believe that it doesn't look much different than when hte moon is not full but I can see a complete difference. When the moon was low last night it was almost a goldenrod shade, and as it rose and the shadows encompassed it it turned grayish navy. When the eclipse peaked and the sky darkened and it started to recede it became redder. It seemed that a smoky curtain was obscuring part of it. What is it about astronomy that continues to fascinate humanity? Why will we stare at the sky for hours watching one object become smaller before disappearing for the briefest of moments?

Astronomy has always been an important part of history. Stonehenge is a great example. While no one is really sure of its purpose, part of it was presumably for some sort of star maps. The Mayans developed their whole calendar on symbols taken from astronomy and hinted at desires to leave Earth and go into the heavens. It is presumably these same heavens that produced the Greek gods and still provide their constellations. Our astrological signs are directly connected to stars.

As a child I spent a lot of time in our yard watching the stars. It was easy to do being in the middle of nowhere. There was very little outside light that would disrupt my vision of waht was happening above us. I took astronomy in high school and got to see my first meteor shower (when I was younger my parents wouldn't let me stay up that late). As an adult I still wish on "falling stars" even though I know what they are composed of and that that composition won't neccessarily help me achieve my dreams. But I know that the beauty of what happens naturally certainly surpasses that of what we can produce.

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