Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I The magic and history of eclipses
- Part II Observing solar eclipses
- Part III Eclipses of the Moon
- 11 Don't forget penumbral lunar eclipses!
- 12 Partial lunar eclipses
- 13 Observing a total eclipse of the Moon
- 14 Photographing an eclipse of the Moon
- Part IV Occultations
- Part V Transits
- Part VI My favorite eclipses
- Appendices
- A Solar and lunar eclipses due between 2010 and 2024
- B A glossary of appropriate terms
- C Resources
- Index
13 - Observing a total eclipse of the Moon
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I The magic and history of eclipses
- Part II Observing solar eclipses
- Part III Eclipses of the Moon
- 11 Don't forget penumbral lunar eclipses!
- 12 Partial lunar eclipses
- 13 Observing a total eclipse of the Moon
- 14 Photographing an eclipse of the Moon
- Part IV Occultations
- Part V Transits
- Part VI My favorite eclipses
- Appendices
- A Solar and lunar eclipses due between 2010 and 2024
- B A glossary of appropriate terms
- C Resources
- Index
Summary
Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.
How shall I like such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?
And can immense mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?
Is such a stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?
(Thomas Hardy, “At a Lunar Eclipse,” 1903)Of the many eclipses of the Moon that I have enjoyed, none can approach, or will likely ever come within reach of the unbelievable blackness of the eclipse of December 30, 1963. That eclipse had the Moon pushing its way through an atmosphere clouded with dust from a recent volcanic eruption. Constantine Papacosmas, an experienced observer who saw it with friends, barely saw the Moon at all, and then only faintly through binoculars. He estimated that the eclipsed Moon was no brighter than a fifth-magnitude star. From where I was, finding the Moon in a city sky was almost impossible. I recall enjoying the clear, bitterly cold night, then rushing indoors to sit atop an electric heater.
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- Information
- David Levy's Guide to Eclipses, Transits, and Occultations , pp. 112 - 120Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010