Early in the morning of October 8th, JCCC students and I enjoyed a view of the lunar eclipse of the Moon from the Paul Tebbe Observatory. It was a Hunter’s Moon, though the media fell in love with the term Blood Moon. My understanding is that Blood Moon has religious origins and I personally had never heard the term prior to this event. While we were enjoying the eclipse, I spent some time pointing out some stars and constellations. We also observed Jupiter and the Orion Nebula through one of the 12-inch Meade telescopes. I managed to take a couple quick photos, holding the camera by hand, of the Moon during totality. I also snapped a photo of students at the event. I knew that the image would be very noisy and a bit blurry, but I also knew that this would give students anonymity while still capturing the essence of the event. Students said that they had a good time, and the occasional “Wow!” and “Ooooooh!” made getting up at 3am worthwhile to me. We watched the eclipse until it was well past totality and then everyone was ready to leave and either go get breakfast or go back to bed.
