On August the 28th at 8:50:57 pm local time New Zealand saw the start of the first Total eclipse of the Moon since 2000. Totality started at 9:52:00 pm and I took this photo shortly after that .
Now I know what you're thinking - isn't a Total eclipse when the moon disappears, totally? well my answer to you would be...
"The Moon will still be visible due to refraction of light through the Earth's atmosphere onto the Moon. Because the atmosphere absorbs more of the blue light, the Moon is likely to appear reddish, just as the sky to the west appears orange near sunset."
and yes I did have to turn to the Internet to discover that, here in fact. As we're discussing astronometric phenomena. I thought I'd mention that when we were in the south island last month, we briefly saw the Southern Lights or Aurora Australis at Lake Tekapo. We only saw them for a few moments but it was a wonderful sight, and something I've hoped to see for along time...
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