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Date: 2015-04-04
Time: 4:45 AM - 6:36 AM MDT
Seeing: II (Antoniadi)
Transparency: 6 (AAAA)
Telescope: 254 mm Newtonian reflector f/4.92
Object: Moon, eclipsed
Eyepiece: 30 mm (42x)
Tonight's eclipse was calculated to be a total eclipse.
I began observing while the partial eclipse had about 30-40% of the moon in shadow. I saw how the shadow moved across craters over time, but the movement of the shadow was not fast; I made no timing measurements.
The shadow turned red when about 80-90% of the Moon was eclipsed. The red was a very dark red.
Surprisingly, a jet aircraft transited across the Moon's red face about 30 minutes before "totality." It was a nice sight to see the jet's lights moving across the darkened moon.
The redness vanished to darkness when about 95% eclipsed. Since the sun was not far from rising, the darkness then changed to the blueness of daylight.
But in these last stages of what was officially "totality," there was still the smallest sliver of bright white light at the Moon's limb. This bright light never disappeared, so I would personally not characterize this eclipse as "total." This remnant illumination was probably 1% or less. Many subsequent reports online sugested as well that this eclipse did not appear to be a total eclipse.
The Moon disappeared completely in the lue sky near sunrise at 6:36 AM, which left it a little above the horizon before setting.
It was a cold morning with temperatures below freezing.
I also caught a glimpse of Saturn this morning. Rings were clear but small with 30 mm eyepiece.