January Skies

Tuesday morning this week, I pulled back the bedroom curtains to a stunning sky ..

in the east the most colourful sunrise you could ever imagine full orange and peach, lilac and purples turning pink and lighting up the sea to the south on the skyline..

then directly opposite in the west a beautiful white disc full moon sitting snugly on top of the early morning houses in a picture postcard blue sky.

I grabbed these snaps on my mobile phone whilst leaning out the bedroom window, but they don't really come anything close to capturing the colours.

So wonderful to see both the sun and the moon both in their full glory in the sky at once. Happy New Year to you all and wishing everyone clear skies and plain sailing in 2012!

Full Moon and Valerian

Clear skies last night and a beautiful full moon .. I popped my head out to see the stars twinkling above my herbs (the joy of a roof garden!) and snapped this shot of the valerian tops silhouetted against the moonlight

Full Moon and Clouds

Wonderfully bright moon last night (and just the last traces of those clouds!)

Lunar Eclipse Update

Well, I had high hopes yesterday afternoon at 6pm when a beautiful large full moon shone in a clear sky outside my kitchen window. But when I checked the skies at 2am, there was pretty much complete cloud cover.

Undeterred, I staggered out of bed when the alarm went at 3am this morning.. it took me a while to find the moon at all, but I eventually a tiny glimmer caught my eye and I waited eagerly for a small hole in the clouds. I was rewarded with my first ever sight of an eclipse!

What I saw, at about 3.05am, was the very final stage before totality - I could make out a dark disc which had a crescent edging of brilliant light at the bottom right. Unfortunately, I could only glimpse the spectacle extremely briefly through gaps in the clouds, and it wasn't possible to take any photographs. Each time the moon reappeared the crescent was less until it was extinguished by the dark disc. As this passed behind the clouds again, it was lost to me, so I never got to see if it changed colour.

-------> GET INVOLVED: Did you see the eclipse? How did it look in your part of the world? Lets compare notes!

-------> UPDATE! Check out the comments for great shots of the eclipse by WeirdBugLady and Lemonlight

Lunar Eclipse

I've been finding out about this week's total lunar eclipse, and thought I'd share the info in plenty of time in case anyone else is interested (click on the post title for proper accurate scientific info).

Its on the night of Wed 20th / Thu 21st, depending where you are - the timings for the UK give the period of totality lasting about 50 mins between 3 and 4am on Thursday.

The Full Moon should turn blood red, although I think the colour can vary with atmospheric conditions and could be anything from yellow or orange through to dark brown.

Should be a wonderful natural spectacle, if the skies are clear!