BootsnAll Travel Network



Red Moon

Photo by Photoshop-Master Mute

Whoopsie, I changed the photo because my first choice wasn’t CC licenced—don’t shoot me! The above shot is more awesome anyway! I wouldn’t have found it if I hadn’t searched for CC only shots, so there.

Yesterday saw the best lunar eclipse in three years and, as if by miracle, the skies over SE England cleared.

For a brief moment, I wondered what all those funny white dots in the sky were. But then I turned around to face the moon, which was passing slowly into Earth shadow, taking on a red hue as its light was diffracted through the atmosphere. The final glint of undiffracted moonlight around the rim gave it a sheen, like a pearl. I felt strangely disconcerted by the lack of the familiar white, lunar face. Suddenly, the moon looked round, a ball suspended in space. It was like looking at another planet in an alien sky. The dim light made the maria stand out like continents on another world.

It was a haunting experience; wonderful but a little scary. Part of me was relieved when the moon passed out of Earth shadow and, soon after, the clouds drew back in.

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