Topic: Lunar eclipse tonight

[Ghandi]

Everyone in North and South America will be able to see a total lunar eclipse tonight. It will happen at 10 p.m. EST, so 7 p.m. for all you west coasters. Get your cameras ready! Or your booze. Or your tin foil hats.

[WindAndConfusion]

Everyone in North and South America will be able to see a total lunar eclipse tonight.

...unless it's raining.

[Cobra951]

It's very clear here.  It went quickly from a small bite off a corner to about half shaded.  This will be the 3rd one I see so far.  Stick around for a half century or so, and they become old hat.

[Ghandi]

...unless it's raining.

Ah, yes. I forgot to edit for all possible weather conditions.

I'm hoping that my camera does well in the low light, though I am skeptical.  It doesn't do too well with a high ISO setting.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I think its too cloudy and foggy to see it here.  I couldn't spot it anywhere.

[Antares]

Cool stuff.  Weather reports were saying most of the view in AZ would be ruined by clouds, but I happened to wake up about 10 minutes ago and went outside to see the moon still about 3/4 covered, the sky is nice and clear.

[Cobra951]

Outstanding.  Perfectly clear still.  Saw it slip into totality, at which point it took on a deep-red tint, with a very 3D look.  The full moon normally looks like a circle to us, but this looked very spherical.  I used some low-power binoculars, which let me take in the details of the surface, as well as Saturn on one side and I think Regulus on the other.  I'm pretty sure Saturn was on the lower left.  That was too bright to be the star.  The moon's surface shows a lot more contrast than usual, so all the familiar detail from pictures is very obvious.

[Antares]

I had totally forgotten about my binos until you posted cobra.  A very cool look for the moon, as you said the moon (especially the full moon) is usually way too bright to see good contrast without some kind of filter.  The object just below and to the right of the moon is Saturn, I can just barely make out the rings with my 10x50 binos on a stable platform.  The moon is steadily becomming less and less covered with the earth's shadow now... it wont be much longer before its all over.

[Cobra951]

I was just using good opera glasses.  No way to see rings with that.  I'm sure your binos were much more powerful.  Lower right, really?  I could have sworn the brighter object would be Saturn, and that was on the lower left.

[Ghandi]

Damn you all. It was perfectly clear here a few hours ago, but now the sky is covered in clouds. The only hint of anything special is a very slight orange hue to the clouds. Other than that, nothing.

Enjoy it for the rest of us that cant see it.

[Cobra951]

OK, I have enjoyed it, just for you then. 

Moreover, this eclipse comes with a rare bonus. The planet Saturn (magnitude +0.2) and the bright bluish star, Regulus (magnitude +1.4) will form a broad triangle with the moon's ruddy disk.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/080215-ns-lunar-eclipse-guide.html

I stand corrected.  1.4 is immensely brighter than 0.2.  There is a factor of 10 from one order of magnitude to the next.

[idolminds]

I saw it tonight. Went to a conservation district meeting and we took breaks to go look at it. Nice big picture windows so we didnt even have to freeze our butts off to see it.

[Antares]

OK, I have enjoyed it, just for you then. 
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/080215-ns-lunar-eclipse-guide.html

I stand corrected.  1.4 is immensely brighter than 0.2.  There is a factor of 10 from one order of magnitude to the next.

Nope, you were right.  Saturn is on the lower left, it was a typo in my earlier post.


The magnitude scale is backwards, lower numbers are brighter than higher ones.


http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/brightest.html

[Cobra951]

Hahaha!  So, by virtue of being wrong twice, I'm right.  YES!!! In your FACE!!!  Hooray for double negatives!