Crunchy Con

Tintin and the lunar eclipse

Wednesday February 20, 2008

Categories: Varia
We're less than a half-hour away from the lunar eclipse here in Texas. Did you know that this was the same regular eclipse that saved Columbus from angry natives? It's a very cool story. Matthew points out that "Tintin" creator...
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Comments
jaybird
February 20, 2008 10:17 PM

Busted out the 8" telescope to take a peek with the boy tonight. Saturn is also visible as a bright "star" to the lower left. If you have a decent pair of binoculars, you should be able to just make out the rings.

Rod Dreher
February 20, 2008 10:32 PM

Well, crap, total blanket of clouds over Big D tonight.

bam in ri
February 20, 2008 10:44 PM

I'm sorry, Rod! Real clear skies here in Rhode Island, and the eclipse is progressing nicely. Should be total in a very short while.

Peterk
February 20, 2008 10:49 PM

well its cloudy in Richmond Va :-(

Elizabeth Anne
February 20, 2008 11:07 PM

We stopped at our local pub on the way home this evening, and the owner's father had his giant telescope out! I not only got a close up view of the eclipsed moon, I got to see the rings of Saturn!!

Charles Cosimano
February 20, 2008 11:14 PM

For once having below zero weather was a good thing. We had a perfect view, no clouds, of the great dragon eating the moon.

Erin Manning
February 20, 2008 11:20 PM

Here in Fort Worth we got to enjoy the eclipse for a little while! We went to choir practice tonight, and when we came out the moon was almost completely obscured (about 9 p.m.). We had to run a quick errand on the way home so we did get to see the eerie dark shadowy moon for a while, but once we got home and it began to reemerge those pesky clouds spoiled the second half of the show.

The fun part was being with my homeschooled children who suddenly understood all those experiments involving flashlights, a tennis ball, and a basketball in a way that was more concrete than before!

mm
February 20, 2008 11:35 PM

Major clear and windy night tonight; I had the great pleasure of burying my beloved dead cat in the garden as the night sky paid its respects.

"I saw it written and I saw it say, Pink-a Moon is on its way, Pink-a moon. Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink. Pink-a Moon." (Thank you for that, Nick Drake.)

Major Wootton
February 21, 2008 9:35 AM

A timely eclipse to save our heroes features in Rider Haggard's enduring adventure yarn King Solomon's Mines!

Erik
February 21, 2008 10:20 AM

Perfect viewing conditions in NC as well - cool, but not too cold, and clear as a bell. We let our daughter stay up to watch it (she flaked out about 10:30, before the shadow began to pass away) and we had a grand time photographing it and experimenting with the effects you can create with long exposure times.

Barbara
February 21, 2008 1:35 PM

I personally don't find the Columbus story very cool. Perhaps if he hadn't set a standard for mistreatment and exploitation of the natives in the first place, he wouldn't have resorted to base trickery in the first place. It's not like his Wookie innocently followed the scent of raw meat and got their party caught up in a large net. It's too bad that Columbus didn't have better ethical programming than C-3PO.

I am sorry that I missed the eclipse, though.

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About Crunchy Con

Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.

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