With night the darkness came. A darkness that could not reign, because of a light that illuminated the sky. There it was, bigger and more beautiful than usually displayed, our moon. Showing his good “profile” entirely sunlit from somewhere that our eye can not see.
And I was there with the best company, getting further into the forest, to reach the chosen place where we’d set our little camp. The intention: to enjoy the eclipse in the middle of nature.
In the distance, we could still see the lights of a town or city but our view was directed upward, where the year’s biggest moon was (also known as Supermoon due to the apparent increase in size when in the time when its orbit is closest to Earth).
Suddenly something seemed to change. I looked at the sky and a slight dark spot seemed to pervade the surface of the moon. Something stood between her and the Sun. We. Slowly, the darkness began to claim his territory, allowing the revival of the brightest stars.
Suddenly, like a sigh, the last line of light reflected by the moon faded, giving way to an unrealistic scenario, an apocalyptic landscape dominated by a bloody red moon that I could not stop looking. in ancient times this phenomenon unleashed panic among the observers, who saw it as a bad omen.
Lie on the floor and look up to the sky was the best thing to do at that moment. A unique setting in which the stars and the moon negotiated a truce were they displayed together for anyone who, in those wee hours of the night, would enjoy such a beautiful moment.
We say that the lunar eclipse is total when it passes completely within the threshold (the cone of shadow caused by the Earth illuminated by the Sun and projecting on the moon). During this phase, of about an hour, the moon does not disappear but becomes red due to sunlight itself released by the Earth’s atmosphere.
A light breeze brushed our faces all the time and humidity gradually seized all present: lenses, camera and all our belongings began to get wet. There were even times when the lenses fogged up completely, making it difficult to make some of the shots.
Although I was from the sunset and moonrise (about 19.30 h) walking around the mountain with my camera, the big show started about 3 o’clock in the morning and lasted just over 3 hours, followed by the setting Moon just before sunrise, at which I took for a little sleep before returning home.
I really do not know if the results are very impressive or simply are “one more picture” of the eclipse, but the experience of the lived moment is what I find most important. We are having an interesting year with eclipses … now it’s time to wait for the next one!