While you were sleeping–An Eclipse of the Harvest Moon!

Last night around 20 minutes until 8:00 p.m., a text flashed across my phone. It was from my friend, Ashley: “Moon on the eastern horizon!”

I thanked her, snagged a driver, and we were out in the countryside in less than 5 minutes.

Jim offered to take me out, and because our time together is pretty rare, it was almost like a date to be going somewhere, just the two of us. There we were, cruising along in the twilight, off on an adventure! Then we crested the hill and saw it: The Full Harvest Moon!

We drove a mile or so to find a good place to pull over, and I balanced my camera on the hood to get a clear shot.

Last night’s full harvest moon over a meadow of goldenrod! I call this time “electric blue.” See how the Queen Anne’s Lace glows?

It doesn’t look very large in the photo, but our eyes pick up something about the moon that a camera can’t. The peach color faded as it rose and the sky got darker, but I was able to get one good close-up picture while the sky was still blue.

It’s a golden-orange moon in a velvety blue sky–breathtaking! It makes me wonder if I’m in a fairy tale. When I look down from the moon, will I see Puss In Boots walk by, sack in hand? Or could that be Peter Rabbit jumping behind a rock? This was taken at 7:44 p.m.

The skyscape changes so fast! So many amazing things are there over our heads–just waiting for us to look up! The moon seems so close it seems I can almost touch it. Can you see the “Man in the moon?” He is looking up and to the right.

What a glittery object the full moon is! The peach color is fading by now in this one, taken at 8:12 p.m.

The color may have faded, but it is still such a rich, luxurious contrast! Do you see how the top of the full moon shines like a bald man’s head?

I am reminded of little bald men because Beau is working on a new Dr. Dumb comic, and he leaves his concept drawings all over the house. There I am, just minding my own business, and when I reach to straighten a pillow, I find a funny drawing underneath! But I am not complaining. What a joy to be able to see his comics in process! Beau is creating a new character right now, and it’s adorable! I can’t wait for you to see it.

I didn’t continue to take pictures right after we got home, since a low moon would be lost in the trees there, but a couple of hours later, I tried again.

At 10:33 I stepped out back and saw it high above the trees. What I didn’t notice at the time was the reddish shadow on the left of the moon. Can you see it?

Moon Info rabbit trail:

The moon is full every 28 days, and the new moon always appears exactly 14 days later, and only during the daylight hours. If you are careful, you can find the moon in the midday sky when it is only a day or two old. Then the moon will be very thin, and it will be washed out in the sunlight.

This is the “waxing” moon (growing larger) on September 10th at 2:20ish in the afternoon. It’s about 5/6 days old. See how faint it is? Now imagine it half that size. In a cloudy sky, it can be very hard to find. This picture took over 30 minutes and four sky-watchers to capture.

The completely full moon always appears at night and into the early morning; in fact, it will be in the dawn sky opposite the rising sun the morning after it’s full–count on it! And whenever we have an eclipse, it always seems to happen during a full moon.

So back to last night: Not having noticed the reddish tinge on the left side of the moon earlier, I was super surprised to see this when I stepped out to take one final picture of the harvest moon before bed.