Standing outside my home at 9:30 p.m., while crickets rubbed their forewings together to create a soothing sound and a faint fox odor floated in the air, I aimed my binoculars at the moon.
A dark, curving shadow covered part of the celestial body, indicating the beginning of a partial lunar eclipse. Through the binoculars, the moon’s three-dimensional roundness and its mile-deep craters came into view.
As the night wore on, the dark curve covered more and more of the moon until most of it was gone, and a reddish glow shone on its surface. It was the time of the blood moon.
Watching the partial lunar eclipse recently, as others have done, connected me to the universe in a way nothing else can.
It is what happens to us when we stand on terra firma and view something in the sky at night that millions have seen way before we were born and will see many moons after we die. There’s a sense of wonder, a sense of peacefulness, and of knowing the universe is all-encompassing.
It is likely that sense humans wish to experience when they travel far to see, for example, a solar eclipse, or when they go to a dark space at night to view shooting stars, or just stand outside to see the moon turn red at 11:30 p.m. during a lunar eclipse.
Solar and lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon align. A lunar eclipse only happens during a full moon when the Earth moves between the moon and the sun. During an eclipse, the only light reaching the moon’s surface that humans can see is from the Earth’s atmosphere, and it appears red.
A relative living 200 miles away texted me photos of the lunar eclipse she was seeing, describing the shadow as it grew larger. I felt as if I were standing right next to her. It reminded me of John Denver’s song “Shanghai Breezes,” where he tells us that the moon he’s seeing in Japan is the same one a loved one is seeing in the United States. “The moon and the stars are the same ones you see,” he sings.
Friends on Facebook posted their photos of the blood moon, and we conversed at 11:30 p.m. about the experience. A friend recently gave me a plaque reading, “May we never lose the sense of wonder.” It inspired me to look for the eclipsing moon.
No one else was in my neighborhood outdoors at night looking at the moon, and I wondered how many even knew about this celestial event happening right above their homes.
Luckily, even though street lights and home lights were shining, I could still see the moon and even a few stars. Light pollution has obscured what I used to see while growing up. Trying to find the Milky Way in a suburban neighborhood with the naked eye is impossible.
Local astronomy groups offer a chance for the public to view the night sky close by through telescopes that bring some of the constellations and planets into view. Lake County Astronomical Society members, for example, will bring their telescopes from 8 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 17 to the Lake Villa Public Library, where the public can see what is above them. It’s a free program, and there’s no need to register. Another free public outing is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 19 at the Warren-Newport Public Library in Gurnee.
Professional astronomers and astrophysicists understand much more than I do when they look into the sky. They know how a star forms within large clouds of gas and dust. They know what a supernova explosion is and so, so, so much more. I wonder if they get jaded by all this knowledge, but I’m sure the sheer joy remains for many of them.
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As NASA Astrophysicist Jessie Christiansen has said, “When you look through a telescope, and you see distant planets and distant galaxies, suddenly you remember, everything is so big, and we’re so small.”
It’s an outdoor experience everyone should have. Tonight, step outside and look at the moon and anything else you can see in the sky. Then think about a loved one many miles away. Perhaps you will feel a little closer to them as you gaze at the overwhelming amount of space above.
Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor, and photographer for the baiduhai and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment, and co-author of an upcoming book on “Birds of the Midwest,” to be published by Timber Press in 2027. Send story ideas and thoughts to [email protected].