With yoga mats and beach towels sprawled across the grass and telescopes propped at the night sky, City College students gazed up to see the total lunar eclipse at the Mission Rose Garden on Thursday, March 13.
City College’s Astronomy Club, in collaboration with the Biology Club and Yoga Club, hosted a lunar eclipse tea party where students of all majors could come to socialize and learn about astronomy while watching a rare astrological event.
The total lunar eclipse, commonly known as the rare blood moon, started at 9 p.m. and ended around 3 a.m. and was most visible around midnight. It occurs every few years when the moon is covered by the Earth’s shadow, giving it a deep red color.
“Because the Earth is passing between the sun and the moon, the Earth’s sunlight is passing through the Earth’s atmosphere and it’s blocking out all the blue light and projecting only the red light onto the moon,” Astronomy tutor Nico Weldeab said. “So what we’re seeing is the sunset of the earth projected on the moon, making it red.”
As the lunar eclipse entered totality photographers got into position to get a shot of the moon, one of which was Brett Dodak, astronomy club president.
“Usually eclipses happen in pairs every year, you get one every six months,” Dodak said. “We’re very lucky that we get to see a lunar eclipse in the Americas.”
Dodak, who specializes in astrophotography, finds joy in the cosmos and captures it on camera.
“I like science in general, but [astronomy] is probably the most beautiful science in my opinion,” Dodak said. “You can show a picture of a galaxy and everyone’s gonna think it’s super beautiful and wonderful, right?”
From anthropology to film majors, students were immersed in a new field and taught by their peers. Jayme Daikon, although a psychology major and an art minor, expressed her love for astronomy and how it has led her to meet new people.
“I always grew up camping every year without fail and this is the closest I can get,” Daikon said. “I’ve met a lot of really cool people doing similar things by being outside and outdoors.”
The rare blood moon was an optimal occasion for students with interests in astronomy to join together to learn about outer space collectively.
“We’re gonna actually look at it when it’s dark because when it’s dark it’ll be an opportune time to look for other objects in the sky,” Astronomy professor and club adviser Sean Kelly said. “We’re gonna look at galaxies, star clusters and nebulae. We’ll even try to look at one supernova remnant called M1, the crab nebula.”
Kelly stood beside his telescope surrounded by curious students eager to learn about the moon and the stars. With his neodymium diode laser, he pointed to Jupiter and Mars. He showed the students how to find Orion’s Belt and the Pleiades amongst other constellations.
“The fun part is the discoveries that are being made all the time. Astronomy is just full of new ideas and new discoveries,” Kelly said. “My job is to share that cool news with people and it’s something that I find incredibly fascinating.”
As the students drank their tea and hot chocolate beneath copious layers of blankets and sweaters the clouds revealed the vivid red shadow that engulfed the full blood moon.
