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Yesterday, Thursday 21 February, 2008 at 4.30am ish there was a total lunar eclipse that could be seen quite clearly here.  In fact, we set the alarm so we could get up and see this amazing phenomenon.  It was so worth the effort and the being tired later in the day!

One thing that has struck me since I moved here is how many stars can be seen with the naked eye.  I don't just mean the larger ones, I mean, hundreds, thousands, probably millions of the smaller ones that simply don't show up in most places due to the ambient light that is always around.  That's especially the case in the UK as there are so many people, so many cities and towns lit up 24 hours a day, that the stars are just not visible.  Here, there are large, bright stars visible every night and then there are all the pinpricks of light that are smaller stars filling the gaps in between.  If looks as though someone has sprinkled glitter in the sky.

Well, the lunar eclipse was amazing.  We watched as the moon slowly fell into shadow and I was surprised that you could still see the shading on the moon so clearly.  It was like the moon had simply pulled a veil over her face before slowly taking it off to reveal her brightness again.

So, that's all I'm going to write about for this entry as I'm still so amazed by what I saw, so pleased that I made the effort to see this that I'm not going to let anything else encroach for a while - there will be plenty of time for things to wear me down!  After all, it's something to be recorded and remembered and it's not something you see every day!