One week ago tonight, I walked down to the Red River after dark to watch the lunar eclipse with my family. It is dark along the river corridor and the view to the east is especially dark, and gave us a spectacular show. On the walk down, I was surprised at how many houses were full of people going about their usual Sunday evening business seemingly without any awareness of the ongoing performance of the spheres.
Eclipses happen because of light and shadow and the fact that the lines between light and shadow are perfectly straight lines except when light is bent by its passing through media of varying density. Lunar eclipses happen every few years but this one was so wonderful because of a clear sky on a warm night with very few bugs around. The next two lunar eclipses are in January, 2018, and then in January, 2019. Even if those nights are clear, they will surely be cold.
Even so, I will go out and watch at least for a while.
