Meeting Around The Moon

I’ve become quite a fan of the Clear Sky Clock. This is a set of weather forecasts for astronomers, telling when the skies will be clear and transparent. Anyway, it correctly predicted we’d have a break from clouds and rain this evening just in time for tonight’s lunar eclipse.

The eclipse had to fit in around Yolo Audubon activities though — tonight was the monthly general meeting, preceded by the dinner for the speaker. I cycled over to the dinner in downtown Davis and while riding eastward saw the moon rising with a bit of shadow nibbled out of it. I got out the binoculars to have a better look, only to discover I had to be standing right in the middle of the road to see the moon. It was a quick look.

The meeting was at 7:30 so I got to see the moon at totality. Not a prolonged look, but at least lunar eclipses are easily seen from the middle of town. After all, we saw the last one while watching quite an historic event.