Carol remembered that we were going to be able to see a total eclipse of the moon tonight. The almanac said the eclipse would begin at 8:43; at nine o’clock I remembered to look out our front window. It’s a little hazy here, but I could see the moon pretty clearly: already, the circle of the earth’s shadow has covered a significant portion of the bright disc of the moon.
When I was a child, I seem to remember a number of winter nights when my mother would stay up late to watch partial or total lunar eclipses; or would set her alarm clock so she could awaken in the middle of the night to see them. I only remember seeing one or two, if they happened early in the evening; I was never interested enough in astronomical events to miss sleep for one. I don’t remember the other members of our family being all that interested in eclipses, either. But in memory, my mother never missed a lunar eclipse.
Lunar eclipse as of 9:00 EST, New Bedford, Mass.
Hi dan – I remember staying up with Mom the night of the first walk on the moon and watching it on television, with the sound really low so we wouldn’t wake anyone else up. It was two days after my birthday; I was eleven. Abby was a baby, you were nine. It was very cool to watch, and maybe that was part of Mom’s lunar interest too. I don’t remember her watching eclipses, but I can believe she did. Last night, in the Midwest, it was profoundly clear and the eclipse was stunning, the moon turning a golden red. Mom would have liked it.
– J