What a night! First the Mars Opposition and then the Total Lunar Eclipse. And hopefully, fantastic weather! Nights in t-shirts. What more could you want as a hobby astronomer and observer? Finally, our hobby has made it into the spotlight of the public again. Of course, the media weren’t always strictly scientific in their reporting and there were a few questionable pieces written. But, what are you going to do? The focus was on Astronomy and we think that is great!
Observatories received hundreds of visitors on the 27th, who just wanted a glance through a telescope. All were excited about the “blood Moon”. Families came and spread themselves out in the fields with picnic baskets, as kids frolic across the open spaces. Everywhere in cities, people looked up to the cosmos. The Lunar Eclipse was not only an astronomical event, rather also a feeling in a mild summer night… one, which will remain in our memories for some time.
Our colleagues had the chance to really enjoy the evening of the eclipse, and took a few photos here and there. A couple of images are visible below.