Not much exciting going on in the Schools’ household. I’m teaching two classes as adjunct this semester so there isn’t much time for frivolity.
We did get to watch the super moon, blood moon eclipse. Super moon because the earth and the moon are the closest they will get in their orbits, a mere 31,000 miles apart. The light from a rising moon goes through more of the earth’s atmosphere when it rises so it looks larger than later in the night. So when we are this close together, the rising full moon looks even larger than normal. And this full moon coincided with a total eclipse.
Not to dampen the spirits of the end of the world nut cases, the coincidence and the reddish cast of the moon don’t signify the end of the world. The moon looks reddish (blood moon) during the eclipse because of Raleigh scattering, the same effect that makes the sky appear blue. Anyway, it was fun to watch what we could. I went out on our roof for the moonrise but it was covered in clouds. Luckily we went out later and the clouds had cleared, allowing us to watch the start of the eclipse. It was a lovely warm evening and we sat in the driveway with our neighbors, watching the moon go into the earth’s shadow. Once it was in total eclipse the clouds rolled in again so we never got to see it come out of eclipse. Still a nice evening. And I learned that it takes some time and practice to do good celestial photography.
The super full moon, in the clouds.
The moon in the clouds, going into eclipse.
The blood moon.
So what do we do around the Schools’ household when there are no grand celestial events to observe or we don’t feel like grading papers? We screw with the lizard. Every castle needs a dragon.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 