Eh, where’s the moon gone?

Today, Aug 28 Sydney was graced with the spectacular view of a complete lunar eclipse. Only yesterday Mars was as close as it will ever be in the next thousand years or so. So, quite an auspicious time for star gazers these days.

Just as I got off the boat from the whale watching tour one of the boat crew told me about the eclipse. Ever fascinated by all things space, I wandered along the harbor over to where the opera house lay, as I remembered having a great view on the moon from there in days prior. As I came up towards the opera house, I saw a group of people heading some place rather determinedly. I tagged along, thinking that these locals probably knew of a great spot to see the eclipse. After all, we were only minutes away from its start. And a great place they did know. We ended up walking up to a boat waiting at the mole to take on passengers. Apparently, this was a privately chartered boat that someone had organized for himself and his friends to get away from the light of the city to get a better view. I asked the organizer whether I could follow on board, and he agreed to have me join.

So, I got a second boat ride that day, this time hunting the moon instead of whales. My photos obviously cannot convey the spectacular of a complete eclipse, with it’s red moon during the eclipse refusing to be properly portrayed through my lens. The rocking boat didn’t help either with the long exposure times ….

Sydney – Lunar Eclipse

I met some very nice Sydney siders in the process, even though I was probably the only one over 30 on the boat … The title of this post is a quote of one of the more chemically altered passengers, who came crawling out of the captain’s cabin about halfway through the complete eclipse and realized that an essential part of the night sky had gone missing …. Not sure he remembered what the official excuse for this party was.

I also got a chance to taste some authentic Aussie barbeque. I prefer the Texas version, but the cook was making some mean burgers …

So, all the more reasons to go out howling at the moon.