Wouldn't you know it would rain...

[TopNotch]

Wouldn't you know it would rain on the day when there is to be an eclipse of the moon, and Mars is at it's closest point to earth in 26 months? I was going to set up a camera with a BIG lens and snap some pictures.
Oh, well, someone else managed to snap a good picture of Mars a few days ago. You can see the north pole ice cap and a few clouds in this picture.

[Fierofool]

Last week they were hoping that the cloud cover and rain would be spotty enough that some of the Atlanta area would be able to get a glimpse, but now they're discounting any possibility.  I think the full eclipse is sometime around 2AM.  Too late for my eyeballs to stay open and focused. 

Nice shot of Mars.  It certainly would take a BIG lens to get that. 

[Roger]

Oh Auntie Em! There's no place like home! Where are my ruby slippers?

[TopNotch]

Nice shot of Mars.  It certainly would take a BIG lens to get that.

Big by home telescope standards, but not that big by observatory standards. That picture was made with a 16" (diameter) telescope. By contrast, the telescope on Mt. Palomar in California is 200".

[TopNotch]

Here's what we could have seen Monday night...

The orange ball is the eclipsed moon, lighted by sunlight bent by the earth's atmosphere. At 4 O'clock from the moon in the picture is Mars (also orange), and below the moon is the blue star Spica, in the constellation Virgo.