(meteorobs) my lunar eclipse

[Mikhail Maslov]

Russia, Novosibirk, Lunar Eclipse 2004 October 28. Ideally I'd have to
see the first penumbral phase and slight piece of partial eclipse,
which was to start with the Moon at altitude of 1 degree. The autumn
weather doesn't frequently favour observing. Previous two days were
rather warm (up to +11 C), but a day before the eclipce a cold front passed
and the sky began clearing. The penumbral phase was to start at 7:05
l.t. Whan I went from bed at 6:45, the sky was clear and transparent.
The Moon at 7:05 had altutude of 10 deg. I tuned up my binoculars and
began awaiting the Moon darkening. The first half an hour, as
expected, nothing was visible, then, after penubral phase got deeper
0.5, north-eastern edge of the Moon became slightly darker than the
rest of the Moon. Closer to 8 a.m the Moon was already just above the
far forest belt. The edge was clearly darker. Almost the entire Moon
was already inside the penumblra. In general, I noted that when the
Moon is deep in the Earth's penumbra, it seriously looses in its
brightness, i.e. there is no clear border of the darkness, only one
edge is dimmer/ In usual times the full Moon blinds the eyes, but this
time it was quietly shining, with no excess light and comfortable for
my eyes. Several minutes before 8:00 the Moon went behind the trees,
so I became unable to observe from outside. From my house window the
Moon was visible till appr. 8:05 a.m., then it finally went from my
view at 10 minutes before the partial phase start having distinctly
darkened north-eastern edge.
The next eclipse visible in Novosibirsk is partial lunar in a year
with max. phase 0.068. Visibility is also far from ideal. The Moon
will become surely visible closer to the middle of the event.

Best regards, Mikhail Maslov