2010 Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

First, I would like to apologize to my blog for abandoning it for 3 months. It’s been a busy Fall with all of the Layaway Vacations Specials and such. Which reminds me, if you haven’t yet booked for 2011, you have until Midnight on Dec 31st to save 5% with up to 12 months to pay, interest free. Visit OuterBeaches.com for details. Such a killer deal, just sayin’.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, the 2010 Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse:  While approximately 1.5 billion people had a chance to witness this rare cosmic event, only the night Owls and devoted star-gazers blessed with clear skies were actually in attendance. With the notorious Outer Banks wind chill in the low 20s, I’ll admit that I was hesitant to show up for the dance. Until I learned that this galactic alignment hasn’t happened on the Winter Solstice in nearly 400 years, and won’t happen again for another 84 years.

It is now 11pm and I need to make a game-time decision. After studying the 3am weather predictions, and researching the probability of finding the fountain of youth in the next 80 years, I snapped a photo of the moon and decided to stay up until 3:30am to capture the main event as if I would never have the chance again.

Winter Solstice Full Moon 2010

I don’t know about you, but it is much easier for me to just stay up rather than get 2 hours of sleep and motivate myself to get out of my warm bed only to sit outside in the freezing cold wind. So, I decided to pop in a movie and wait it out. The credits roll just in time for the real show. It is now 3am, and I take a peek outside to catch Earth’s galactic partner blushing. Long Johns, check. Snowboarding socks, check. Neck gator, check. Knit cap, check. I feel like I’m about to go to battle when I finish off the preparations with gloves and my heavy coat.

Once I have my Galileo station set up with the camera, tripod and chair, it’s time to snap some photos. But wait, weather.com didn’t say anything about clouds! So here I am, ready to soak it all up, when some rogue clouds decide to steal the show. Instead of admitting defeat and getting back into my warm bed, I decide to wait it out for a window to the cosmos. I finally get my opening, and take one decent photo before the clouds put me to bed.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse - 12.21.10 - 3:30am