Lunar Eclipse Hike at Ocean Lookout

I'd love to be able to share some wonderful pictures of the lunar eclipse on the night of September 27th, but instead you'll have to be fine with some "meh" photos.  It was a fun hike nonetheless.

I thought going to Camden Hills would be a fun place to watch the eclipse, specifically from Ocean Lookout, which has a good southeasterly view.

Before leaving my house, the moon had just started to rise.  Only a few hours now until the moon would move into the Earth's penumbra.

I had planned to hike up with Hunter (one of my Baxter friends for those who don't know) and Reid, meeting at the Mt. Battie trailhead on Rt. 1 at 8:30pm.  That would give enough time to hike up the 1.3 mile trail to Ocean Lookout, and still be able to view the eclipse.

As predicted, Reid was late, so I called him and said we'd be going up and for him to meet us up top.  I had only been up this trail in the winter before, and it does look quite different without any snow.  I was confused at several points, but we did eventually get to the top.  It is a surprising workout despite being a short trail.  You gain nearly a thousand feet over the 1.3 miles.

We looked through the trees toward the end of the trail, and noticed that the moon was indeed missing a small chunk from the side of it.  This meant hurry.  Hurry we did.  Soon, the trail flattened out and the beautiful granite ledges of Ocean Lookout were in sight.

Once settled on top, we discovered it was extremely windy.  I was happy to have all the extra layers I brought with me, sleeping bag included. The city lights of Camden were visible, as were the blinking lights of the wind turbines on Vinalhaven.

Camden at night

This is the only possibly good photo I managed from the event.  It shows that the moon did indeed have a chunk missing.  Reid did make it around this time to see the umbra passing over the moon.

Eclipse in progress

The most notable change besides the moon of course was the difference in star visibility from full moon to eclipsed moon.  Before the event, we were able to see maybe 10 or 20 stars, but with the moon in the umbra, there were thousands of stars visible, not to mention the Milky Way, which is always a great addition to the night sky.

Many cookies were had, and vuvuzelas were blown to announce to the world that the eclipse was in session.  I thought for sure that there would be others coming up to the same location to view the eclipse.  However, I was wrong, as we had the place to ourselves.

Google Earth track and elevation profile

Above is the Google Earth track and elevation profile.  It's not a terribly long hike, just 1.3 miles each way, but worthy to be included because it's such a nice destination.

The next total lunar eclipse will be on January 31st, 2018, so I consider myself lucky to have seen this one, since I can't remember when I last saw an eclipse.  The next supermoon lunar eclipse (is that a superlunar eclipse?) will be in 2033, quite a ways off still.  Happy sky-viewing until then.