Red Moon

This evening, while on my way home with my niece and my mum, we saw a gloriously bright, orange and large moon low in the horizon.  Because we usually take the bus home, we've not been able to snap photos of moments like these on previous occasions.  So we stopped for a bit to take advantage of the rare opportunity to snap a shot of the moon amongst the cranes.

What I wasn't prepared for and didn't know was that this picturesque scene was actually just a little appetizer for the main course tonight.  Ignorant me had not been following the news and I had no idea that the last total lunar eclipse until 2014 would occur on the 10th Dec 2011 between approximately 10-11pm Singapore time.  Luckily, my sister sent me a text message and although I did see the message a little too late, I was still able to go down and view what would be my very first lunar eclipse and it was fantastic!!

I managed to catch the eclipse just a little before the total eclipse and continued watching it till after the total eclipse till it became a partial eclipse again. It was very, very, very cool and I shot a few crappy shots with my, of course less than adequate, Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. :)





partial eclipse, after the full eclipse

partial eclipse, aft. the full eclipse 2

What was kind of nice about this event, aside from the fact that I was viewing an eclipse for the very first time, was that Manami in Japan and several other Singaporean and Malaysian friends where also viewing the eclipse at the same time.  We were posting photos on FB and communicating with each other and really using social media as it was originally meant to be used.  We were using FB to come together and share with each other, not try and tear anyone apart, create conflict or force opinions on one another.  This shared experience was sort of moving for me and I enjoyed the fact that my friends, my family and I were able to enjoy a thing of beauty together tonight. :)

I think both my mum and I have yet to see a lunar eclipse till tonight.  My dad, however, has seen it before when he was a child.  He said that when he was a kid, during the moment when they were viewing the eclipse, he and his friends took out empty pails and started beating it to make noise. I asked him why and he told me that in the old days, when people didn't understand what an eclipse was, they thought that a creature was devouring the moon up and hence, they would make as much noise as possible to chase this creature away.  Of course when he was a child, they didn't really believe that any more but they were kids and any excuse to have fun and make noise was more than welcomed. :)

Red Moon - full eclipse, v grainy,
4x digital zoom

What I did find a tiny bit sad though was that while were we were watching the eclipse and marvelling at this beautiful natural phenomenon, people at a wedding celebration nearby didn't really care at all.  Seeing those these families and their children completely ignore the eclipse made me glad that before my little niece went home for the night, her parents and her took a little time out to view the eclipse and I was glad that I know that she would have viewed something uncommon and special at least once in her lifetime. :)

Lastly, before I go to bed... it would not do for a huge Kalafina / Kajiura Yuki fan not to mention RED MOON, both the album and the song since during a total lunar eclipse, the moon will take on a shade of red and just this alone should make any fan recall the song. :)  Sadly, my photos aren't able to represent the colours and how magical the moon looked tonight, luckily, a simple search on google should pull out several spectacular photos of the eclipse tonight. :)

Alrighty, that's it for now... I leave you guys with this... a youtube clip of the Kalafina Red Moon song sung live (not uploaded by me)... not sure how long it'll last on youtube... but here you go... enjoy...

Time to go drop the last dose of eye-drops for the day and hit the bed.  It's much better now... best I've felt it's been for a while so I'm somewhat relief and happy about it... but it's really late now and I don't want to push it.... good night and have a good weekend y'all. :)