Dinner and a Show

Since lately we’ve been staying in town whenever the road is blocked and we have commitments, it feels as if, instead of going to Canberra for a night out and entertainment, we come home.

Most recently we were able to sit outside eating dinner and watch the eclipse of the moon, conveniently located for our viewing to the northeast and not obscured by either trees or clouds.

After dinner Craig sat in one of the plastic verandah chairs and watched every change in the light through his binoculars, exclaiming as the surface reddened into the “Blood Moon”, and the stars began to appear in the background.

When I complained about the difficulty I was having getting a decent image he suggested “Just go closer”. Great idea.

We watched an even longer eclipse from our backyard in Brisbane twenty-two years ago, using the telescope that Jessie won in a game show. It turned out it was too powerful for the purpose, although it was fascinating to see every dimple and crease of the craters as the darkness moved across them.

It’s disconcerting to see the eclipsed moon looking so three-dimensional. A bright shining circle in the sky is one thing. An obviously round, and very large, rock that floats in the sky is much more worrying.

I hadn’t had the foresight to download any of the apps that can make an i-phone take better photos of the night sky, so we got some very odd and blurry images.

The moon came out looking like a covid virus in some.

Jessie did better with her phone in Spence and got some very eerie pictures.

This week the moon was on our minds again as Yunus was in Florida to watch the Orion module take off. So amazing to think that humans may be back walking above our heads in the next few years. They’ve obviously taken Craig’s “Just go closer” suggestion to heart.