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(meteorobs) Total Lunar Eclipse of 2000 Jan 21
Southern California is under a persistent cloud cover. So when the view
from my backyard had no moon I headed for the San Gabrial Mountains and
stopped at the parking lot of a place named Red Box at about 4:00 UT
with the moon shining through a thin veil of clouds. It really didn't
look too bad through 7X50 binoculars. At 4:21 UT a meteor of magnitude
1.0 shown through these thin clouds so it must have been a really bright
one if it had been in the clear. Its path was about 8 degrees. At 4:30
UT the moon "broke through" to a beautiful clear segment of the sky.
It was fantastic because of the large number of stars I could see in
this very clear break with dark adapted eyes. Color is very subjective
but I would describe the central Earth's Umbra as a dark terra-cotta.
The brightening of the limbs gives the moon a very accented roundness. I
was surprised at how much brighter the Southern limb was than the
Northern limb. This became particularly apparent when the moon was again
shrouded in clouds some 8 or 10 minutes later when it was again shining
through a layer of clouds and looked like a crescent moon. I was
surprised at this because I knew that the moon was completely immersed
in the Earth's umbra but not quite kissing the center. I was quite
pleased despite the "hide and seek" game played with the clouds.
The Total Lunar Eclipse of 2000 Jul 16 will be much better in that
it will be in the center of the Earth's Umbra at maximum. However that
one will be visible on the other side of the earth from that which this
one was visible. Lucky Asians and Australians! I think it would be
worth traveling a long distance to see. I hope all of you
have clear skies.
Robert Gardner
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