Blog: Even though it was cloudy, the lunar eclipse brought folks together at 9,000 feet

Monday night from about 8:30 p.m., a group of about 75 people assembled at the Mauna Kea Observatories Visitor Center on Hawaii Island to view the total lunar eclipse. 

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth lines up directly between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun’s rays and casting a shadow on the moon. As the moon moves deeper and deeper into the Earth’s shadow, the moon changes color before your very eyes, turning from gray to an orange or deep shade of red.

Although the moon was mostly obscured by cloud cover throughout Hawaii, even at the 9,000-foot elevation, its disappearance was still visible, although blurry, through the clouds.

People atop Mauna Kea mingled, sipping hot cocoa and discussing the chill at 9,000 feet. Someone produced a ukulele, and before long, all of the visitors at the center were singing along happily with Christmas carols. One family trucked down a cooler full of snow from the summit, and the children at the visitor center played in it, throwing snowballs and sliding around the parking lot.

With the totality of the eclipse, darkness hampered vision and mobility, so visitors collected in their small groups of family and friends. Although the clouds prevented a clear view of the eclipse, the mood on Mauna Kea was bright.

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