I hope you got a glimpse of or were watching at length the lunar eclipse this evening in Manila and other parts of the Philippines, Asia and North America… The photo above taken about 15 minutes ago. This is the second Blood Moon in a series of four, also called a Tetrad. The first was in April of 2014, the third on April 4 2015, and the last in september 2015 (according to CNN). The moon from our vantage point in Manila was plain white or off-white, not the orange or reddish tinge news reports said it might be (apparently that was earlier this evening). We were just thrilled that we had a relatively clear sky just now. At any rate, I can see how this “phenomenon” would freak out folks hundreds of years ago if they had no idea what an eclipse was to begin with… And the most eyebrow-raising item I read in the past 24 hours? That Mayon volcano would be more prone to erupting tonight due to the altered gravitational pull caused by the eclipse. Hmmm.
Handheld photo taken by MM using Mrs. MM’s Panasonic/Lumix point and shoot camera with Leica lens.
13 Responses
Lovely photo but it appears the earth’s shadow on the moon as viewed in Manila and captured by Mrs. MM’s Lumix is not as red as you mentioned as in some parts of the world. For those who missed it, watch video as eclipse happens on the National Mall in Washington DC :
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141008-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-space-science/
And I missed seeing the eclipse! Not sure if I’ll be around in another twenty years to see another one.
For a moment I despaired of missing it because the predicted viewing condition in my zone was poor and it was indeed overcast and rainy around eight at night. However, it had cleared up and the full moon was visible and bright when I got to my gym at two. By the time I finished my workout at close to four, it had been just a matter of waiting a short while to see the full spectrum of the eclipse and the unusual blush of colour.
But aside from being rare as one of a triad of eclipses, the autumnal full moon tends to be the most spectacular of any normal year. There are songs celebrating harvest moon here in the West. Shen Fu in Six Chapters Of A Floating Life included a sad and affecting passage about a moon-viewing picnic he and his wife held a distance away from town shortly before she passed on. In Japan it is anticipated and revered precisely as a thanksgiving for the harvest. There is a magnificent princely villa in Kyoto, the Katsura Rikyu, that is said to have been built specifically for the viewing of the autumn full moon. The lay-out follows the moon’s ascent from its initial appearance on the horizon as it gets reflected on the pond and each structure follows the moon’s gradual ascent until it reaches fully overhead. To think one dismissed Japan as just all Noh and Kabuki.
Here is Frederica von Stade singing Song to the Moon from Rusalka of Antonín Dvo?ák
httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVYFpY3VL4
Rather than the usual crescent shape of the moon, this is shaped like your French basket logo MM!
I am curious Footloose as to why this phenomenon is linked to harvest. The stronger pull of the full moon is said to cause seeds to germinate more actively. I wonder if the directly opposite pull of the sun has any other known effect.
It was very reddish at around 7:00pm last night.
the answer to your query…www.moonconnection.com
Gejo…much more interesting facts about Harvest Moon, Hunter’s Moon, Beaver’s Moon, etc. moon! …farmers almanac.com
Frederica von Stade’s rendition, perhaps the best ever, of Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon” can make us soar to heavenly heights. But for real old time nostalgia ( and long before my time:)), here’s a popular moon song, the original:
httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgz7_Wzv6g
Renee Fleming’s is not bad either but the damned dress is quite distracting. Trade-off is the English subtitle.
We kids use to get invited for a week’s stay at my mother’s uncle’s villa and we were looked after by one of mother’s cousins who was kind of simple although we kids did not notice it until mother (much later) pointed it out. Anyway, she claimed to us kids once that any song with moon on it was a favourite of hers and one of the songs she enumerated to us was your By the Light of the Silvery Moon.
Footloose: Don’t quite know how to react to your comment, but it feels like somebody telling someone, still quite young, “you must have been pretty when you were young”:) But…… you will still make a very interesting neighbor.
Nothing to take from my free association ramble. It was just that as soon as I listened to your link all I could think of was my zany aunt; that’s what a full moon does to you, I guess.
Just wond’ring how long we can all last without a post from our dear MM:) Oy vey!
connie c: was wondering that too. it’s been 12 days! i even googled mm’s name just to check. i hope everything and everyone’s ok.
general and connie C, sorry, didn’t mean to go offline for that long… have just been so incredibly busy. But new posts, and hopefully a SLEW of them up starting later today. Promise. :)