You are looking at an account of the eclipse
Sydney was lucky to get a cloud free viewing of the lunar eclipse - courtesy of weather changes: the rain for two months, now, seems to fall in 2 or 3 days and then switch off - other capital cities missed out.
What made this special here/locally; was that the eclipse started at 6.52 pm - just after the, very-bright and large, full moon passed over the tree line in the east at 6.30 pm.
Note: a moon approaching eclipse is facing directly towards the sun and is the brightest moonlight you will ever see; as a full moon rises in the east, it appears larger than normal. This combination creates a dramatic spotlight.
Note: We found that binoculars improved the detail, but removed most of the colour.
With clear sky; a day that actually reached 27C/80F - in August, our second most cold month!? - and 'twas the best time of day to watch. The icing on the cake was the verandah, where one could sit and peruse the whole event as it unfolded:
1. Shining through the tree line in the east was a large INTENSE spotlight, which moved slowly up.
2. Thence, a VAST orb of light rose above the trees. With cheap binoculars one could see every detail.
3. A dark black shadow started at the eastern end, and progressed very slowly west.
As the path of moon was in the northern sky - as is our sun - the direction: North, South, East, or West - of shadows and progressions of colours gets confused.
4. As the black shadow moved "upwards" (west) over the moon, that seemed to contradict the terra-lunar rotation direction.
5. As the shadow progressed, the black abated ... and the lowest/eastern part of the moon acquired outlines of bright light that turned to colour and slowly progressed towards gold, and then light orange.
6. As the penumbra turned into umbra/full shade, there was no line of shadow. The moon slowly became darker orange/red - colour is subjective - That WAS dramatic.
7. As the moon progressed slowly back to penumbra, that WAS magic. There was no mirror/reciprocity. The moon turned - once a two dimensional silver disk - into a rather large three dimensional yellow snooker ball: with side lighting. This snooker ball hung suspended over Sydney.
8. The snooker ball hovered for a while, until a gold outline appeared on the southern edge - slowly moving to the eastern edge.
9. A dark orange disk, with bright silver from the east.
10. A smaller, but very bright silver disk returned.
Richard
http://wolispace.com/cow/img/wolis/moon_eclipse_002.JPG