Great celestial show
Heading from Gotland to Bornholm under almost full sail, on the evening of August 7th we enjoyed a beautiful heavenly spectacle sitting on the deck of the Thor Heyerdahl: a partial lunar eclipse, which was visible in Central Europe. Fine weather conditions allowed us to be spectators to an amazing and rare panorama: the setting sun to starboard (west), and the rising moon on port side (east).
The fullest part of the eclipse occurred around 20.40, when the moon was near the horizon, so we were especially lucky to be on the ship with unobstructed views to all sides. While the red sun slowly sunk into the sea, parts of the moon’s surface were gradually getting covered by the darkest, central part of the Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. About an hour later, the great celestial show was over.
Photos and statement by Torben Schindler, Excellence Cluster of Advanced Materials (group Prof. Unruh, Functional Particles and Interfaces)