Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “moon watching”

03 Mar 2026
9 Comments

Absolute Lunacy


Solar eclipses seem to garner all the attention, yet lunar eclipses are so much easier to view since no special glasses are needed. The one downside is the lateness of the hour required to experience them.

No problem. I had a plan in place.
I was especially determined to watch this lunar eclipse because a)I only caught one planet out of the six from the previous night planetary alignment and b)this eclipse was purported to be “blood red.” Ooh, intriguing.

I camped out in my office knowing I didn’t want to get too comfortable as I was now on my luney adventure (see what I did there?). I thought I would go to bed around 8 pm and get up at 1 am, when the moon show would be starting. I made a mistake. I started reading The Award and the plot tension got me so wired I stayed up and finished the book, which resulted in a cat nap not the five-hour sleep time originally planned.

1am-ish
Coat on, Uggs on, blanket wrapped I set out.
Just a sliver of dark on the left.
Back to bed reset alarm.

1:45 am
About a half window shade covered the moon.
Too cold to stick around: reset alarm to 3:05

Back to bed. Deep sleep dreaming about watching eclipse woke me up before the alarm.

2:55 am
Back in moon watch mode I peek outside. It’s happening!
It’s so silent. No cars trekking up and down the road. No train whistles blowing through their six crossings. I spot a couple of browsing deer in the neighboring yard grazing. They winkle their ears at me with a “Whatreyoudoingup?” look.

Time to commit. I grab another blanket, position my chair. It’s not easy to avoid the light glare from the nearby parking lot and commercial buildings—so much for the city’s new Night Sky ordinance. I zip up my winter jacket and decide to grab the binoculars–not much of an enhancement, actually.

After setting down a chair cushion (plastic Adirondack chairs are unforgiving at 35 degrees) I observe the moon is now just about covered and the bottom is glowing with just a crack of light, reminding me of the peek of light under the bedroom door when everyone is supposed to be sleeping and someone is reading past their usual bedtime.

The moon wasn’t exactly the touted “blood red”– it’s not even looking like a nocturnal tomato in the sky. It’s more like a shadowy Sunkist orange.

3:23 am
The moon at this point is a dusky peach and according to the moon news, the eclipse is at its maximum.

And so–
How much more of this fabulous night sky event do I want to embrace?

Waiting. Watching. Fairly warm. More waiting. More watching. Still cozy despite fingers freezing from typing my thoughts (because I know I will not remember much in the morning). This camping out reminds me of when I went snow camping in college. I didn’t feel the need to repeat that experience. Cold is cold no matter how many surrounding layers try to convince otherwise.

I do confess of liking a cold bedroom when sleeping. Sitting out in the cold is different than a chilly room with a warm comforter. It’s brisk now–the 34-degree night air is invigorating—for the moment. I could use my old down sleeping bag. Note to self for next eclipse (3 years?)

I’m kind of warm. I’m watching. And getting a little bored of waiting. Time to go in and get a quick snack. It’s not like the moon is going anywhere. Fig bars, applesauce, and quick swig of protein drink later I’m ready for more lunar eclipse experience.

No matter how I settle I am cold. That one-degree dip really is a different story now in comfort because I can’t get comfortable. The moon hasn’t changed much, and the lunar news says the entire process is about 5 hours, meaning by 6 am the show is over. I don’t have another 2 and a half hours in me. I don’t even have two minutes.

I relinquish my moon watch and retreat inside. I shed the Uggs, my coat, my hat, my gloves, and the blankets. I nestle under comforter on the spare bed in my office.

I awake at 5 am and rush outside to see if there is anything left to see, but the moon has slipped near the mountain and is naught but a pale round gleaming behind a veil of cloud.

Epilogue:
I saw the moon and the moon saw me. I tell the hubs all about in the morning as he had wisely stayed in bed asleep.

Posted in Reflections and tagged , , , , , , , ,
08 Sep 2022
15 Comments

Starry, Starry Nights


I do so like the moon in all its phases. And the twinkly stars. And the shining planets. And all those flashy meteor showers. Oh, and I do like a good old eclipse, be it sun or lunar.

This summer I have diligently tried my best often a couple of times to venture in the wee hours to catch celestial wonder action.

I am more determined to catch a full moon, especially super moons, being that are usually breathtaking and enter the night stage with much aplomb. The past couple of years has seen a ratchet in my moon madness. My dedication is just short concern. Werewolves frighten the socks off me, so that is not an issue. I just really, like the moon.

The hubs ever happy to find a gift that brings delight (I’m not huge on stuff, being a minimalist) gave me a moon calendar this year for Christmas (not knowing I had picked one up from the Dollar Store). I was, over the moon, with his present. Especially when I heard what lengths he went to purchase it. He went on line. This from a man who owns a shirt that says “I hate cyberspace.” This is a love of true depth and devotion.

My backyard moon scape is not as profound, but still worth a watch

I have even subscribed to The Farmer’s Almanac web version to make sure I don’t miss any cool moon and planet action.

Like the planet alignment. You caught that, didn’t you? Wow! Right? I convinced the hubs to sit with on lawn chairs on our driveway and peer up into the night sky at about 4 am to catch this once in a lifetime event. Well, the next time it happens I might be too old to even care about celestial happenings, so I wanted this sighting to count.

There is nothing like getting up what seems like the middle of the night to sit outside bundled up and slightly cold and definitely sleepy, to wait for something that might show up or then again might not. I hear elk hunters experience this. No shooting is involved in star gazing unless it’s a star that took a wrong turn.

I followed the BBC Science Focus, suggested best time to see the 2022 alignment of between 3:39 a.m. and sunrise at 4:43 a.m. on the morning of 24 June 2022. At 4:30 a.m. the show began. An hour of stargazing in the early morn is one thing, but having the neighbor catch us at it is another. When we pointed to the sky at the planets queing as if waiting for their early Starbucks, he nodded and acknowledged the event with a “Cool” before going off wherever he goes at 4:30 in the morning.

Planetary alignment. Check it out:

Couldn’t quite see Mercury, yet I hear it’s a shy planet

July’s sky sponsored a super moon—the Buck Moon, the largest moon of 2022. Another required early morn venture. At 2:30ish of the a.m. that moon did rise up out the southeast as splendid as a Banksy rendering. Super, yes. More like superlative. The fact that super moons are more than once in a lifetime do not lessen their appeal.

Hey, it’s not all about you

Here it is August. What’s on the menu? The Pleiades Meteor Showers, of course. And of course they are best seen at “you want me to get up at 3 a.m.?” This time the hubs said give him the details later like after the sun and he was up.

The first night I struggled up at 2:30 a.m. Just in case the show started early. Not sure how to watch for meteors, and being sleepy, I stood up and leaned my back against the truck and watched. Nothing but a crick in the neck and an overpowering desire to go back to bed. The hubs was not impressed by my meager details.

What I hoped for…

Three nights later I found myself awake at 4 a.m. and this time I had a plan. I bundled up and went to the backyard and climbed into my faithful hammock. This is the best way to watch for anything in the night sky because if there is a starry night no show I can take a comfortable nap. A minute or three goes by. Wait—yes, a falling star. Or maybe that was a star taking a dive off of Venus, since it seemed to ever so slowly dribble downwards. Not too impressive. I’ll wait some more. Ooh—what’s that zipping across the sky with such purpose? Suddenly I feel like an extra from October Sky watching Sputnik threaten my American democracy. Okay, that was entertaining. Another minute or two. The hammock is dampish. I’m sleepy. Hungry, too. Wait—up in in the sky…Is it a falling star? Is it a satellite? A zipping vertical flash—it’s a meteor!

Fulfilled checklist. One lone meteor does not constitute the dizzying scurry of meteors I envisioned, but I’m hungry and the hammock is dampish.

and what I pretty much viewed.

This time the hubs met me at the door as I returned. What must he think about this nocturnal sojourning of mine? He’s happy that I’m happy. We read and go back to bed. I forgot to eat something. So glad for bananas on the counter.

The last super moon of the year will be Thursday, August 11th. The Sturgeon Moon will appear at the very acceptable hour of 6:30 p.m. Thank you. Consider this as my RSVP.

Nothing fishy about appreciating a full moon

And here it is September and the famous Harvest Moon is scheduled for Saturday the 10th. All this week we have watched fill in from a glowing crescent to a radiant cheese ball in the sky. It already is impressive. I am looking forward to its full prominence Saturday night.

Are you over the moon about celestial night viewing? What’s your favorite night sky item?

Neil Young helps to usher out the summer with its moon glorious adventures:

Posted in Nature, Reflections, Seasons and tagged , ,

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