SF news: Residents see lunar eclipse December 2011 (photos, video)
Top news coming in to San Francisco today is that there was a lunar eclipse early this morning on Saturday.
Some San Francisco residents, like this Examiner, were able to see it from their gardens. Others went to high points in the city to see it better. Since it was chilly, a blanket and a thermos of hot drinks were necessary.
The next lunar eclipse will not happen again until 2014. The entire eclipse, where it looked like the moon had turned blood-red, started around 4.45am PT, said newser.com.
Prime viewing targets were the Pacific, Australia and areas in Asia. The main highlight--that's when the full moon is entirely blocked from the sun (called "totality")--lasted from 6.05am to 6.57a.m.
After totality, the moon set too far below the horizon for San Francisco viewers to watch as it emerged from the Earth's shadow.
There had been a lunar eclipse this year back in June, but because of the positions, at that time, of the moon and Earth, those of us on the west coast missed out.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the moon and the sun.
This joyful event of the lunar eclipse comes in the wake of not-so-happy news that has been heard here in San Francisco. That news includes the news of the Virginia Tech gunman having shot himself. See that story here: Virginia Tech shooter committed suicide (photos, video)
NASA has a website with information on eclipses: see it here
See photos and video on the left-hand side for more on the lunar eclipse. The photos are of the lunar eclipse around the world.
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