The moon is a sphere

I was fairly excited at the prospect of seeing tonight's lunar eclipse but I neglected to take into account not being able to see the eastern horizon from my house.

I missed most of the total but enjoyed the crescent of the partial eclipse re-emerging. It's amazing how distinct the shadow leading to the penumbra.

My friend said there will be some good shots in tomorrow's paper. I laughed and said here in the 21st century I could probably get a high res online right now that matched the view I had through my binoculars, with the moon sitting on a bed of a few dozen stars.

A Twitter search for #lunareclipse gave me this gem from Australian based astronomer Katie Mack.

Another #LunarEclipse moment, showing gorgeous blood-red Moon just before clouds swallowed it. #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/aHSFix60MQ
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) October 8, 2014

Not quite hi-res, but certainly true to the view I had. Bring on the next of the tetrad.

My friend also suggested I could listen to update on the wireless, then I wondered at how the utilisation of radio waves were so revolutionary - being able to transmit signals with no telegraph poles.

I wondered what bit of kit we have today that our grandchildren will snigger at - and I figure it's probably smartphones.

"What do you mean we can't send signals by thought?"

Katie posted a few other great snippets, just as Neil Tyson often does with physics. I'll leave you to ponder this gem

Won’t it be wonderful when we have people living on the Moon, watching eclipses in the other direction? #LunarEclipse
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) October 8, 2014