Big thanks to photographer and L.E.S. resident Pat Arnow for sharing these amazing photos of last night’s lunar eclipse. They were taken from her balcony just hours before the winter solstice was about to begin. She must have had to bundle up! (More after the jump.)
Luckily, the skies were clear down here on the Lower East Side, so we (those of us awake) were able to watch the bright, full moon pass through the earth’s shadow beginning at about 1:30am. It turned a stunning red-ish brown color, giving it a three-dimensional effect like I’ve never seen, and then “came out the other side” by about 5am this morning. It was an extremely rare occasion — the last time a solstice and a full lunar eclipse occurred on the same day was almost 400 years ago (in 1638).
I DID bundle up in a blanket and went out to look–for seconds at a time. There were icy gale-force winds out there, but how beautiful that moon is, so worth it.
It was just so stunning. It felt like a science fiction movie, when it was all red – it was like it had all this depth and dimension you never get to see normally…I’ll never forget it!
I was able to watch it out the window of my bedroom, which faces west. A remarkable experience. I’m glad I was able to wake up for it.
I was remembering how my mother would always wake us kids and take us out to see an eclipse. Of course, that was California, and we did not freeze out there.