Phases of the eclipse, captured by Tod.
Last night was the first time I’ve experienced a full lunar eclipse. It was beautiful.
We rushed out of the house at 21:45 to catch the first bite taken from the moon. Japanese word for lunar eclipse is gesshoku, 月食, which is literally moon eating. What a meal.
With a good view from the garden, we scrapped our plans to watch the eclipse from Denzuin cemetery. Even so, after ten minutes outside we were cold! We ran back in to warm up, then returned better bundled for more viewing.
The bite grew bigger until the disk of the moon was glowing a dim red with a vivid sliver of white light on the edge. Tod, without a tripod, searched for a stable perch for the camera and found a wall outside our building. We stood and craned our necks through totality.
Everyone passing by on our street was looking up. The blood red moon, maybe more rust colored, was stunning and almost directly overhead. Neighbors came out for a look. There were people on the roof of the building across the way and folks on their balconies. Nobody was interacting, but we all experienced a celestial moment together.
