The March 3 Lunar Eclipse

As a young teenager, on July 20, 1969, I sat in a neighbor’s crowded living room watching the televised broadcast of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon’s bright powdery surface. Our neighbor invited us to watch the broadcast on his color television, as our family couldn’t afford or was too cheap to buy an expensive color unit. But the color TV proved to be disappointing as the quality of the signal was poor, the colors drab and the image very grainy. The event seemed rather slow and dull to me at the time, although I recognized I was seeing a historic moment.

As an old man, very early in the predawn morning of Tuesday, March 3, 2026, I stepped outside into the chill darkness to admire a view of the very full moon hanging in the sky above. The brightness of the sun’s reflected light washed across the night sky and obscured the view of many dimmer stars. My mind recalled that day 57 years ago when humans first stood on the surface of our celestial neighbor. I wondered if I would enjoy before I die another viewing of a remote broadcast of humans once again landing on the moon in the near future. I hope so and expect that the video image quality will be much better next time.

I found a chair, placed it facing the moon and sat with binoculars hanging from my neck to await the predicted eclipse of the moon’s shining white face as the moon moved into the earth’s shadow. The moment arrived suddenly at 1:50 a.m. with the appearance of a distinct curving outline of the earth’s shadow on the left rim of the moon. The binoculars brought the tiny orb of the moon to my eyes in a magnified and magnificent view.

The creep of the penumbral shadow across the moon was slow, but noticeable. The penumbra (Latin for “almost shadow”) introduced a brownish reddish color to the moon, justifying the nickname “blood moon”. Once the full shadow (umbra) of the earth covered the whole moon, the reddish hue continued to color the moon’s darkened face. With the entire moon now in earth’s shadow, the carpet of stars above once again shone brightly in the heavens. I felt grateful to live in a place where the dark night sky is still preserved.

At 3:10 a.m., I was amazed to see a blazing meteor suddenly streak brightly across the sky in the same viewing area with the moon. It was a magical moment that brought an exclamation of joy to my lips. Happy I was to be there as a witness to nature’s glory, warm in my layers of clothing and comfortable in my seat, beneath a dark starry sky, enjoying the rare astronomical event.

At 4:03 a.m., the direct rays of the sun again touched the left edge of the moon. Bright whiteness slowly spread across the face of the moon. The stars in the sky once more began to dim as the moon’s face regained its brilliance. Gradually, as twilight gathered and the moon approached the western horizon, the earth’s shadow slipped away and the full moon’s light again dominated the night sky. Another ephemeral memory had been recorded and filed away in my brain. What a wonderful world and special place we enjoy.

Marc Jensen
Logandale, NV