# The eclipse is starting! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135 "2003-11-08T23:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/21 "2003-11-09T02:09:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > \*\*It is spanking clear here. > > The kids were not impressed with the disappearing moon. \*\* I must have been a weird kid, then. I remember when I was about eight or so staying up late one night just to watch a lunar eclipse. Tonight’s eclipse was only the second lunar eclipse that I’ve seen. The other times were obscured by cloud cover. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/22 "2003-11-09T02:21:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cityboy916 \* > Dang! You mean there’ll be more eclipses but they won’t be visible from Earth? 🙂 I’m kidding, of course, but someone was bound to point it out. There’s one in every crowd. 🙂 Sure – pick a planet, pick a moon… ---
**Author:** ![Anita\_Vacation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Anita\_Vacation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anita_Vacation)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/23 "2003-11-09T02:33:12Z")
I wasn’t expecting this: It disappeared from left to right, and then reappeared from bottom to top! ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/24 "2003-11-09T04:49:49Z")
Drop your weapons and give me the gold, or I won’t bring back the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/25 "2003-11-09T05:13:40Z")
All gone. Nothing left but a plain ol’ moon. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/26 "2003-11-09T05:28:21Z")
Perfect viewing conditions for me. 🙂 Crystal clear, and out on the farm away from light pollution to boot. It was amazing the way the stars came out as the moon dimmed, and the reflected earthshine on the moon made for a cool effect. Pity it was -10C ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/27 "2003-11-09T05:33:12Z")
:smack: WHY do I always forget? I meant to see it. This morning I reminded myself to see it. And I just remembered when I saw this thread. Far too late. And the sky was clear (when I was outside at 4 not remembering to go back out an hourlater.) 28th of October next year. … will I just not be able to see it? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/28 "2003-11-09T05:39:57Z")
It was chilly here, so the WryGuy and I made intermittent trips to the yard to watch. When the Terrible Teen and her pals got home from their shopping trip, they climbed up on top of the van to see better. None of them wearing coats, of course. Once the moon was almost completely invisible, we came in for hot cocoa, then watched it reappear from the kitchen window. **Anita** - I said the same thing! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/29 "2003-11-09T14:17:08Z")
It looks like I was wrong about the next total lunar eclipse. According to [the U.S. Navy’s list of solar & lunar eclipses,](http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/UpcomingEclipses.html) there will be one on May 4, 2004, and again on October 28, 2004. These won’t be visible from everywhere, and the May 4 one not at all from North America. Last night’s is the best one most of us will see for a long time. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Anita Vacation_ > I wasn’t expecting this: It disappeared from left to right, and then reappeared from bottom to top! Space is curved, you know. 🙂 Let’s do it again next time! ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/30 "2003-11-09T16:07:45Z")
In Seattle it rose over the mountains, already in full eclipse. The color was an orange, as it was pretty hazy here. It gradually brightened. This morning at 7 a.m. it was perfectly full and large, setting in the NW over the Puget Sound. That was just as beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/31 "2003-11-09T18:18:14Z")
I went down to the local university’s observatory and stood in line, in the cold, for 1.5 hours. Their telescope is brand new and it wasn’t aligning properly. I could still see the moon from the line part of the time, but I didn’t bring my digital camera because it was really cold, the camera is huge, and I didn’t feel like carrying it and my tripod. They did have a smaller telescope set up outside, and I saw Alberio and M13 through it. I finally made it through the line (my SO, who was wearing shorts, had managed to go up the steps to the observatory to stay warm, got one of the first views, cheater! I waited in the cold!) and it was cool. The astronomy guy had to manually align the 'scope with the moon after every few people. Then I came home before the end, and managed to take a [picture](http://home.comcast.net/~flaroe/112003eclipse.jpg) before it ended. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/32 "2003-11-09T21:11:22Z")
I could see it from my driveway. The moon turned brown! Hercules’ 13th labor: cleaning shit off the moon. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/33 "2003-11-10T00:45:24Z")
I tried to take pictures, but who knows if they turned out? I didn’t have a tripod, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t able to stay still for the length of the shutter. Oh well, it was fun to play with the camera, and really neat to watch the eclipse! We had a pretty good veiw from our apartment, up until close to totality, at which point we had to step out onto the balcony to see past the balcony from the apartment above ours. At least we were warm most of the time! ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/34 "2003-11-10T13:10:33Z")
I saw it Saturday night while I was at work. I forgot all about it until some customers mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/35 "2003-11-10T13:20:15Z")
We were driving home from Frankenmuth Michigan to Detroit when it started. We watched it out the car windows all the way home, then stood in the driveway until it was completely covered. It was a beautiful, clear, very cold Michigan night. The moon turned a muted burnt umber - very autumnal. And we were the only ones on our block who bothered to come out for it. As far as we could see in any direction, no people looking up besides us. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135/36 "2003-11-10T15:29:52Z")
There was a thin layer of clouds here, but we could still see the moon through them. It didn’t really look much different than a cresent moon through the clouds. The eclipse we had back in May was easier to see as the sky was clear then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-eclipse-is-starting/212135.md?page=1)