Wandering through the realms of the cosmos, pondering its huge vastness

Posts tagged “partial lunar eclipse

A Bite Out of the Strawberry Moon

A large cumulonimbus cloud was covering the moon until eclipse maximum.

I was lucky to have witnessed the partially eclipsed moon in the eastern sky last night despite a thick cloud cover and a chance of a thunderstorm.

The June 2012 full moon is called the Strawberry Moon (according to the Farmer’s Almanac)

According to the Farmer’s Almanac, “because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June, full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry”, hence the name.

Because of this,  it seemed as if the shadow of the Earth that covered the moon during the eclipse is a small bite out of the Strawberry Moon.

Shown below is a composite image of eight separate photos showing the phases of last night’s partial lunar eclipse beginning at 7:32 pm PHT as seen from Marikina City, in mostly cloudy skies.

Yesterday’s weather had been winding us up all day, with nearly 100% cloud cover from dawn to dusk. Fortunately, we did get good cloud breaks which allowed glimpses of the Moon.

By the way, I observed this event with my fellow UP AstroSoc member and favorite observing buddy, Bea Banzuela from the rooftop of their house located in Barangka, Marikina City.

Tomorrow, a rare transit of Venus across the Sun’s disk will surely entice a lot of sky viewers again. It is an event that you would not want to miss!

Clear skies!