I'm pleasantly amused by the florid prose in this lunar eclipse announcement from NASA:
Close your eyes, breathe deeply, let your mind wander to a distant seashore: It's late in the day, and the western sun is sinking into the glittering waves. At your feet, damp sand reflects the twilight, while overhead, the deep blue sky fades into a cloudy melange of sunset copper and gold, so vivid it almost takes your breath away.
A breeze touches the back of your neck, and you turn to see a pale full Moon rising into the night. Hmmm. The Moon could use a dash more color. You reach out, grab a handful of sunset, and drape the Moon with phantasmic light. Much better.
Too bad it's only a dream...
Early Tuesday morning, August 28th, the dream will come true. There's going to be a colorful lunar eclipse visible from five continents including most of North America...
The eclipse will start at 2:52 AM PDT on August 28; head to the link for more details and more overwrought imagery. It does sound quite nice. Oh, and just to point out the semi-obvious: that will be right in the middle of Burning Man, which is a fine platform whence to observe the night sky, as well as a fine venue for dreamy spectacle of any sort...
