I get so involved with traveling on Planet Earth, that sometimes I forget to think bigger picture. As in Universe. One of the (many) things I loved about all the Star Trek TV series was the idea of exploring outer space.

My photo of the Dec. 21, 2010 lunar eclipse. Not NASA quality, but it has a certain mysterious magic.

Last night, we had clear weather and mild temperatures for the lunar eclipse, which happened to coincide with Winter Solstice.

As I sat on the grass in my front yard, staring at the moon, I thought about all the unexplored wonders of the galaxy.

How beautiful the planets are! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, have a look at NASA’s stunning Voyager photos.) Ringed Saturn (always my favorite planet), blue Neptune, orange-banded Jupiter…and all of Jupiter’s moons: Amalthea, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Io.

Here’s to dreaming of future intergalactic travel!

—Laurel Kallenbach, moon gazer

Showing 7 comments
  • celia
    Reply

    thank you for this Laurel! I stood in my driveway at 2:30 am, but here on the east coast we had an overcast sky– nothing as magical as your photo.

    • Laurel
      Reply

      It’s great you were watching too! Lunar eclipses on solstice don’t happen that often.

  • Alyce Barry
    Reply

    Beautiful photo, Laurel!

  • Lori P.
    Reply

    This was lovely!

  • Gail Storey
    Reply

    Your photo indeed evokes the mystery of the moon, Laurel! And you’d be a great intergalactic travel writer.

    • Laurel
      Reply

      Guess I better start training in zero-grav!

  • Lisa Paulos
    Reply

    Nice picture! We set our alarm and got up at 3 am EST to see the eclipse. We got to see about 15 minutes before the clouds came in.

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