GAMBIER — The bright moon staged a disappearing act for people in central Ohio during the night.
Beginning Wednesday about 8:40 p.m., the Earth’s shadow began blocking the sun’s rays from reaching the moon, creating an incredible effect as the moon looked to be disappearing. Once the moon was fully in the Earth’s shadow, at about 10 p.m., it appeared red.
“We see the moon as red whenever it’s in the shadow,” said Kenyon professor of physics Ben Schumacher, who was overseeing the Miller Observatory at Kenyon College. The observatory was open for a few hours, allowing visitors a chance to see the total eclipse up close.
The powerful telescope at the observatory brought out a small crowd of amateur astronomers to view the eclipse. Kasey Kelly, a physics major at Kenyon, helped Schumacher answer questions about the moon and the sky. Kelly also used a computer to move the telescope to other objects in the sky, giving people an awesome view of the planet Saturn and its rings. Saturn was the bright star just below and to the left of the moon during the eclipse.
“The sun, Earth, moon and Saturn are all in line in space,” said Schumacher.
The total eclipse of the moon lasted a little over 30 minutes, but at least a portion of it was blocked for about three hours, according to Kelly.
