Observation 12/28/10

Tonight, I went out and looked up at the sky from my driveway in Sarasota, at about 9:30 pm.  The moon was not visible from where I was, but I can guess that it was in its waning crescent phase.  I did see a couple of stars in the eastern portion of the sky.  I am pretty sure I could make out the star Vega in the Lyra constellation.

Observation 12/20/10

On Monday night, 12/20/10, I watch the lunar eclipse from my driveway in Sarasota.  The Moon was surrounded by stars and was in the western direction of the sky.  I was only able to watch part of the eclipse, and I watched from about 1:00 to 2:30.  I saw the Moon slowly become darkened by a shadow that gradually covered its surface.  Then, the Moon started to turn to a reddish color.

APOD 2.7

For this week's APOD, I chose the picture called "The Solstice Moon's Eclipse", uploaded on December 23, 2010.  It was taken from Georgia, and it captures the moon during its lunar eclipse.


On Tuesday morning, the full moon moved into Earth's shadow, starting a lunar eclipse.  A total lunar eclipse is when the moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth completely blocks the Sun's rays from reaching the moon.  This lunar eclipse in particular happened to occur during the December Solstice, which is why it was such a special eclipse.  The moon eventually became reddened into a coppery disk, because of light filtering into the Earth's umbra, or the Earth's central shadow.   The left side of the moon appears darker because it passes closer to the Earth's umbra.

Observation 12/10/10

Tonight, I observed the sky from my driveway in Sarasota at about 7:45 pm.   I could only see a couple of stars, but I did see the moon.  The moon appeared to be in its waxing crescent phase, as it was about a quarter of the way illuminated.  I saw the moon in the south west direction of the sky.

APOD 2.6

For this week's APOD, I chose the picture called A Twilight Occultation, uploaded on 12/10/10.  It is a picture of a thin crescent of the moon in the western horizon, and it was captured on December 6, 2010.


At this time, the moon also occulted, or passed, in front of Mars.  Only some people in North America were able to see this occultation.   The picture was taken in De Soto, Kansas in the United States.  The Moon was only a few degrees above the western horizon.   In the picture, a little dot is see next to the moon's crescent, and that would be Mars right after it came out from the Moon's sunlit edge.  Also coming up this month is a total lunar eclipse on December 20/21, 2010.  A lunar eclipse is when the Moon appears to be darkened as it passes through Earth's shadow.

Observation 12/4/10

Tonight, I went out and looked up at the sky from my driveway in Sarasota at about 9:00 pm.  I didn't see the moon, as it was in its new moon phase.  I did see the star Polaris, and I also saw the constellation of Cassiopeia high up in the northern sky.