Rise Of The Red Moon

I am lucky that my hubby shares my fascination with astronomy. Which was why we were chatting animatedly about the phenomenon of the red moon in the wee hours of June 16. Out of an uncontrollable impulse, we decided to leave the Bees sleeping at home, and bolted out to the dark grounds of our estate at 3am just to observe the progress of the lunar eclipse. 

It was bewitching to watch the lunar eclipse unfolding right in front of our bare eyes. We stood in the refreshingly cool air of the deep of night, listening to the musical rustling of ubiquitous tree leaves dancing with the rising wind. Our eyes were glued to the mystical and age-old process happening right above us in the celestial heavens - until 3 precious minutes just before the exact time of complete lunar eclipse when the moon was slated to emanate a blood-red semblance.

 

I tried taking some shots of the lunar eclipse progress and could see the moon gradually becoming a sliver of red from a rather large, luminous gibbous shape in less than an hour! 

Right at 3.18am, the moon was abruptly blotted out by a thick, dense, angry cumulo-nimbus cloud which brought with it strong howling winds and a deluge of cold steely rain. Just 3 minutes before total eclipse!

We were sorely disappointed, and ran back into our home in the ensuing rain. But at least we watched the progress of the eclipse. And more importantly, we spent a little couple time under the cloudy skies in the witching hour. Rather romantic and magical, I must say :)