Lunar Eclipse!

A couple of nights ago there was a lunar eclipse that was seen all over the world, except North America. We had one half a year ago, on December 21, 2010. It began right before 2 AM, but that didn't stop us.

The boys went to sleep in warm pajamas and socks, and had their slippers ready by their beds.
I waited till the 1/4 of the moon was eclipsed to wake the kids. They stayed up until the moon was orange, but none of us got to see it in totality, or emerge from the eclipse.

As you can see, I prepared some treats for the boys to enjoy while we watched. It was very cold, so we stayed inside and went out every five minutes or so to see the progress.

In the beginning I was trying to determine which position would be best for photographing the moon. That's when I got this cool shot. :)

Here is a diagram of the moon's progression that night:

(I found the diagram online; all the following photos are my own.)

 Right before the eclipse- rightmost moon in the diagram above.

1:40:46AM

Starting to get a shadow on the left side:

2:26:00AM

The following photos look similar, but the Earth's shadow is covering more and more of the moon in each one. Numbers 1-2 in the diagram.

3:02:47AM

3:05:43AM

3:06:40AM

3:09:25AM

3:14:51AM

Now we reached #2 in the diagram

3:32:31AM

This is as late as we stayed:

3:39:37AM

It was almost 4 AM when the kids went to sleep.
I thought I was a little crazy for waking them up for an eclipse. They are so little... they may not even remember it! But they were watching me write up the post and started reminiscing about the eclipse (including how cold it was!)

The boys are really into science, specifically space. I'm glad I made the decision to wake them. They really understood that it's the Earth's shadow that is covering the moon, and they were amazed (as was I)!