Apple Picking and Super Moon Lunar Eclipse

Sunday, September 27, 2015
After worship and Sunday School we enjoyed a pork roast dinner with purple potatoes and tossed salad as we discussed the sermon and Sunday School experiences.   Then after an early afternoon rest, Jen, Rachel and Noelle went to a neighbors home to pick apples from his five loaded trees.

I walked over, took pictures and got some of the apples that the girls dropped in the process of picking them. Here is Rachel in her favorite spot right up into the tree reaching out with a picker.

While Noelle was reaching them from the ground

The goal is to make lots of fresh sugar free applesauce that we can all enjoy mixing the different varieties that they picked.

After the evening worship service we set up our chairs in the backyard where we could get a clear view of the sky and watch the lunar eclipse.  Unfortunately there were lots of clouds so it was a bit of a challenge but we did get to see the full moon

before it all started and several times clouds moved out of the way

so we could see the full eclipse progress.

About the time it was fully covered the dark clouds began to drop rain so we came back in pleased we'd at least seen part of the big show in the sky.  It is not due to happen again for another 18 years.

This particular moon is referred to as the blood moon and the lunar eclipse is better described in this clip I found:

A total lunar eclipse will share the stage with a so-called supermoon Sunday night or early Monday, depending where you are. That combination hasn’t been seen since 1982 and won’t happen again until 2033.

When a full or new moon makes its closest approach to Earth, that’s a supermoon. Although still about 354,056 kilometres away, this full moon will look bigger and brighter than usual. In fact, it will be the closest full moon of the year, about 48,000 kilometres closer than the average distance. (The moon’s orbit is far from a perfect circle.)

And this tells more about a lunar eclipse:
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its umbra (shadow). This can occur only when the sun, Earth and moon are aligned (in "syzygy") exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can occur only the night of a full moon. The type and length of aneclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes.

Unlike a solar eclipse, which can be viewed only from a certain relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of the Earth. A lunar eclipse lasts for a few hours, whereas a total solar eclipse lasts for only a few minutes at any given place, due to the smaller size of the Moon's shadow. Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full moon.