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The moon was almost swallowed by [something] early this morning. We heard it was going to happen, but the peak drama was to be around 3 am local time. An hour before we normally go to bed, it was clear and the full moon was bright, which is unusual for us these days. At bedtime there was heavy cloud cover and not a star to be seen, so I figured that just like all the recent astronomical events, it would be invisible here.
Wrong. Gary got up to let the dog out at 3 am, and the sky was spectacularly clear. He came back in to tell me and I went out to look (despite the temperature of 20°F and wind chills even lower.) It was indeed clear. About three quarters of the moon was darkened but still visible, and the rest of it was bright. I haven't seen a real lunar eclipse since, oh, maybe 40 years ago or something. But I was more taken by the stars. Orion was riding high and majestic, just brilliant down even to the dimmer stars in his sword. The light pollution from the recently overdeveloped area around Huntley just barely missed his feet. My head was too muzzy and my feet too cold to stay out there for long, but it was a spectacular view as well as the lesson about light pollution. The sky was really clear, but the big glow from Huntley to the southeast and Rockford to the west still overcame the stars in those directions. I imagine a lot of people these days have never even seen a real starry sky.
As recently as 20 years ago, we could see the Milky Way easily here in a clear sky like that. Now it isn't even perceivable. That's really sad.
Wrong. Gary got up to let the dog out at 3 am, and the sky was spectacularly clear. He came back in to tell me and I went out to look (despite the temperature of 20°F and wind chills even lower.) It was indeed clear. About three quarters of the moon was darkened but still visible, and the rest of it was bright. I haven't seen a real lunar eclipse since, oh, maybe 40 years ago or something. But I was more taken by the stars. Orion was riding high and majestic, just brilliant down even to the dimmer stars in his sword. The light pollution from the recently overdeveloped area around Huntley just barely missed his feet. My head was too muzzy and my feet too cold to stay out there for long, but it was a spectacular view as well as the lesson about light pollution. The sky was really clear, but the big glow from Huntley to the southeast and Rockford to the west still overcame the stars in those directions. I imagine a lot of people these days have never even seen a real starry sky.
As recently as 20 years ago, we could see the Milky Way easily here in a clear sky like that. Now it isn't even perceivable. That's really sad.
