For once we were blessed with clear skies for an astronomical event. During a lunar eclipse the Moon passes into Earth’s shadow, the refracted light through the Earth’s atmosphere painting the lunar surface red.

Living in the lights of a big city you can often forget to look up, but the eclipse gave me a great excuse to get outdoors with my binoculars and camera to enjoy the night sky.

While the Moon was darkened I used the binoculars to scan the Milky Way. Normally the spiral arm is only faintly visible above Sydney, but with the binoculars I had wonderful views of clusters and nebulae.

It reminded me of the old joy of learning about the Universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere, of the births and deaths of stars and galaxies. The story of the sky is so much more interesting when you understand more about it.

Also nice was the mug of hot Milo after I returned inside!