Stargazing . . .

Last night was the last lunar eclipse that we will be able to see in the US Midwest until December 2010, so I was quite excited that the skies were clear all day.  At around 7pm the stars really started to come out and Orion was bright and easy to spot in the Southern skies -- the moon was full and bright.  The earth started to take a bite out of the moon at around 7:30 and by 9 the moon was illuminated by the refracted light that filtered through Earth's atmosphere -- it was an incredible sight! 

The moon glows orange during a lunar eclipse and the stars seem to shine even brighter.  Saturn -- faintly gold in color -- was clearly visible to the bottom left of the moon:

As a kid I wanted to be an astronomer and now with Maddie going through a phase where all she wants to study is Space and the planets -- I'm right back there. . . looking through a telescope with my uncle.  I think I've found a new hobby.

These pictures were just taken with my little digital camera -- no tripod, which explains the poor quality.  I think if I had taken the time to set up a tripod (in the one degree temps -- yeah, right!) I would have gotten some really nice photos.  Maybe in 2010!