The Montgomery city lights were a constant nuisance. Whether from homes or street lamps, trying to get a glare free view of the Lunar eclipse was a matter of finding the perfect position between tree trunk shadows and upper tree branches, such that the shadow shrouded moon might be glimpsed in a frame of branches, pine needles and Huckleberry leaves while the glaring neighborhood lights were blocked out.
As the moon began to reappear from the murky obscurity of a rust colored totality, the sky cleared momentarily offering a bright white crescent ice cap on the western rim, the majority of the Moon in a double shadow of grey and umber.
Then the haze returned surrounding the Moon with an eerie greenish-yellow sulfur aura, a sign that the upper atmosphere was polluted with sulfur dioxide, that obnoxious gas which is spewed into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. As I watched the Moon's glow brighten, I could taste the acidity of the air. This was an ominous sign, that least the people take action and clean up the air, their lives would all be cut short, like an eclipsed moon, and thousands of wonderful souls would be tarnished, sickened and lost to the murky acid slime which coated their lungs with every breath.
Gloriously the full moon slowly reappeared, its bright reflected sunlight shining through the man made haze. Perhaps there was hope. If enough people knew the truth about the high levels of pollution caused by coal-fired power plants, and demanded that power companies meet modern clean air standards, the deadly bellowing plums of soot and smog might end, bringing clean air back to Alabama skies!
Links:
Alachua County Astronomy Club, University of Florida, Lunar Eclipse 15 May, 2003
Lunar Eclipse 15 May via Yahoo
Totla Lunar Eclipse 15-16 May, 2003
Next Total Lunar Eclipse in USA 27 Oct. 2004
Sincerely,
Terry Lynch
Date: 16 May, 2003
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