Space Sciences Astronomical Events news thread

Did anyone get to see the total lunar eclipse last night? We got lucky as the skies cleared up in time to catch it. The moon looked orange. It was so cool! I had to keep going in an out because it was so cold and windy last night, but it was worth it. I love astronomical events. :D
 
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Did anyone get to see the total lunar eclipse last night? We got lucky as the skies cleared up in time to catch it. The moon looked orange. It was so cool! I had to keep going in an out because it was so cold and windy last night, but it was worth it. I love astronomical events. :D
I saw it. At nights the moon is shining me right in the eye, as it's in front of my window, so...:mcat:
 
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Did anyone get to see the total lunar eclipse last night? We got lucky as the skies cleared up in time to catch it. The moon looked orange. It was so cool! I had to keep going in an out because it was so cold and windy last night, but it was worth it. I love astronomical events. :D
We had heavy cloud cover, with no sight of the moon.
 
We had heavy cloud cover, with no sight of the moon.
Oh, man, I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think we'd get clear skies because the weather was so awful earlier in the day, with the snow and freezing rain. We lucked out. There will be another one in 2022, so here's hoping you have have clear skies for that one. :)
 
I didn't see it as I had to go to bed! I did see a big bright "regular" moon on my way to work this morning though!
 
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About the lunar eclipse: It was cold and I'd seen several lunar eclipses before, so I watched from a big window I have. It was still impressive! I started watching when it was about 75% in shadow; it'a always so cool to see it when it's just a dull red.
 
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Wow, you're not kidding. Just went outside to have a look and for a split second I thought it was a plane or something. Thanks for the trip.

Not hard to find at all. If you look at the below diagram and think about it, Mars will be in precisely the opposite direction to the sun. As the sun sets in the west, Mars is rising in the East.

Mars is probably the planet with the biggest brightness variation. If you think about it, Mercury and Venus, at closest approach, are in the direction of the sun, so we can't see them at their brightest. Whereas Jupiter and Saturn are so far out that the brightness variation for a given orbital position will be less.

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