Lunar eclipse OR - early AM feeding with a bonus

by Lance Boehm

No need to set an alarm clock since our boy is nature's alarm clock for those events in the wee hours of the morning!

The crying started at 2:40AM. I prepared the bottle while Mary with baby on her shoulder stepped out on the balcony to have a naked eye look at what was happening. She announced that it looked like the partial phase was almost over.

Once everything was prepared the three of us moved to the balcony chairs for the feeding and viewing phase. It was surprisingly warm which made us feel at ease about sitting out there a while with the baby to enjoy the view.

I pointed the scope and worked to find the most pleasant view with the PowerSwitch equipped Denkmeier binoviewer. The 24 Panoptics using the high setting on the PowerSwitch provided the optimal view at 67x / 1.01 deg FOV.

Mary and I took turns for the next 75 or so minutes feeding the baby and looking through the scope. Watching the color change from an ash gray to rusty reddish color in the scope was remarkable. At just past 3:30AM the color seemed to be at its darkest. It looked very much the same color as V Aql (carbon star).

Also, the usual pseudo-3D effect from the binoviewer was enhanced greatly by the band of color change as the eclipse progressed. Very cool!

The baby was fed, burped, and was dozing heavily when we decided to head inside at around 4:15. By that time the color was mostly faded, and it was headed back to ash gray.

We managed to grab another hour of sleep before having to get up for the official start to our day. Both of us commented it's going to be a "caffeine heavy" day @ work. The baby, on the other hand, was still zonked out when I dropped him off at day care. Can I be dropped off at daycare too so I can get more sleep? ;-)

It was a wonderful time enjoying such a beautiful natural event with my wife and son next to me. This is what life is all about. I'm so thankful she supports and participates in the hobby. I love my wife :)

-Lance