Sunrise Learning Lab: night sky

At around 3:20 in the morning, we got quite the show here of some awesome views of the Lunar Eclipse.
Kind of happened by accident, as I had gotten up to take some more pain medication following some incredibly painful oral surgery. Big Bro also happened to wake up and came into our room.
Just about then, Dear Hubby looked at our clock and saw the time and told us about the Lunar Eclipse, so we all headed outside to take a peek. Really looked pretty in the sky.

One of the many reasons I love my Dear Hubby so much...makes looking at the night sky so interesting and fun. He loves sharing his interest in astronomy and meteorology with us...two areas of science that I had never given any thought to before he entered my life...

Know that the Lunar Eclipse was supposed to look like an orange-red color, but to me, it looked like the how my morning coffee looks when I swirl in some hot chocolate to my mug of coffee...

Dear Hubby snapped some shots and we then tried to explain to half awake - half asleep Big Bro how neat this particular Lunar Eclipse was, as this Lunar Eclipse happened on Winter Solstice. The next Lunar Eclipse that will coincide with Winter Solstice will occur in 2094, so this one will be the only one we will get to see in our lifetimes...

Here is one of Dear Hubby's photos:

Well, in case you live someplace that the Lunar Eclipse was not fully visible to you, or if you were actually asleep instead of outside during the wee morning hours, wanted to share a photo of the Lunar Eclipse with you, along with some neat moon themed things.

Creative Commons photo taken in a series by Anthony Skorochod.

Know that Winter Solstice has now come and gone, but if you decide to study the moon, you might like this summary about the phases of the moon, as it appears on the US Navy webpage about the moon:

Moon Phases

New Moon - The Moon's un-illuminated side is facing the Earth. The Moon is not visible (except during a solar eclipse).

Waxing Crescent - The Moon appears to be partly but less than one-half illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is increasing.

First Quarter - One-half of the Moon appears to be illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is increasing.

Waxing Gibbous - The Moon appears to be more than one-half but not fully illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is increasing.

Full Moon - The Moon's illuminated side is facing the Earth. The Moon appears to be completely illuminated by direct sunlight.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon appears to be more than one-half but not fully illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is decreasing.

Last Quarter - One-half of the Moon appears to be illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is decreasing.

Waning Crescent - The Moon appears to be partly but less than one-half illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is decreasing.

Hope that you will also enjoy some of these moon themed projects...
Moon Rock Soap
This soap sounds like messy fun...am sure that my sons would love to make some moon rocks...
Paper Moon and Foil Stars
Nice, simple and fun project for little ones...
Moon Phase Images
This has some great information, especially interesting for older children...
Earth and Moon Viewer
Great information and images here...neat feature, in that you can go in and set up a custom parameters in Expert Mode for what you want to view...very interesting and informative for the whole family...
Kids' Craft Weekly: The Night Sky Newsletter
If you have yet to check out Amber Caravan's awesome artsy newsletters, be sure to sign up when you visit this site. You can sign up for free and then, you will get an email version of her themed newsletters. Each newsletter is chock full of great arts and crafts ideas to go with a particular theme.
This is the link to her Night Sky themed newsletter...
Goodnight Moon Resources from Homeschool Share
Even if you do not homeschool your children, there are some wonderful activities here that tie in with the book, Goodnight Moon.

Here are some links to neat moon themed posts from around the blogosphere:
5 Orange Potatoes: How to Make a Dream Pillow: Moon Phases Free Pattern
Adorable little soft pillow that you can make for a friend or family member.
What makes it neat about this pillow is that it is their family tradition to make new moon themed pillows every year for Winter Solstice...
Cool tradition, don't you think?
December Solstice by Science @ Home
Oh, how I love what Deb puts together about science.
Would have adored science if all of my science teachers would have made it as interesting as Deb makes science...in this post, she explains winter solstice and the lunar eclipse...please be sure to pop over and read her post...
Olives and Pickles: Marvelous!
Nice post of a family enjoying their fabulous telescope to check out the moon. nice to know that there was another family with young children who decided that it was cool enough to have their kids wake up to see the lunar eclipse.

Well, once again, amazed by the beauty and mystery of the universe...so glad that I got to see this Lunar Eclipse coinciding with Winter Solstice 2010.
So glad we got to seize the moment as a family...

So thankful that my awesome hubby explained the Lunar Eclipse to Big Bro and that he also took some great photos of the Lunar Eclipse for our family.

Also, a huge thanks to him for taking such good care of me while I recovered from my surgery...Dear Hubby is a wonderful guy, what can I say?!?