08/28/2026
What a night it turned out to be for a nearly total lunar eclipse over northwestern Vermont! Thick clouds and a troublesome forecast gave way to a star-speckled sky interrupted only periodically by high, thin, translucent wisps. The full Sturgeon Moon shined brightly until Earth passed between the Sun and Moon, plunging more than 96% of the lunar surface into shadow. Light refracting around the limbs of the Earth painted all but a tiny sliver of the Moon blood red — the cumulative effect of light from all our planet's sunrises and sunsets refracting simultaneously on our celestial neighbor.
I headed to artist Jim Sardonis's famous Whales Tails sculpture "Reverence" in South Burlington, where the moon would line up nicely throughout the eclipse. Shortly after midnight, when the eclipse reached its deepest phase, I took several long-exposure photographs as the dark red moon drifted over the black granite sculpture. This final image is a two-shot composite, blending separate images for "Reverence" and the eclipsed moon to ensure correct exposure, light and focus for each element of the overall scene. (Photographed alongside my friend Umesh.)
Amazingly enough, this was the second lunar eclipse this year to fall on the birthday of one of my parents! My mom's big day was Thursday, when the lunar eclipse began here in Vermont; in Colorado, where my folks live, the entire eclipse occurred on her birthday! My dad celebrated his birthday on the day of the lunar eclipse back in March. A truly fantastical celestial Silverman coincidence!
