Lunar Eclipse Observations

Honestly, I did not know what to expect. I learned about eclipses in elementary school, but since they were such a rarity had not thought much about them since- I irrationally imagined maybe a new moon-type phenomena. At 2 am my friend William and I journeyed to Pine View School from the depths of Venice to view the eclipse. Stopping to get coffee for the night, we received a frantic "You're missing it!" text from a stargazer already at Pine View; surely enough, looking up there was a partially shadowed moon. After arriving, watching the shadow travel across the moon was as amazing to me as the eclipse itself. At full eclipse, I looked in the telescope; the red color was unexpected, but beautiful. The sky was not as dark at full eclipse as I expected it to be, which was probably more a result of location than anything. And that annoying streetlight that is always on at night at school. Even so, the winter sky was really beautiful. The nebula we viewed was more visible than others we had looked at during previous stargazes. Also, meteors! There were a few visible meteors which were simply spectacular. Overall, it was an experience worthy of staying up until five for.