This morning's lunar eclipse, as photographed on a mobile phone at Pie Creek.
This morning's lunar eclipse, as photographed on a mobile phone at Pie Creek. Arthur Gorrie

ECLIPSE: Even the heavens wish us well in space

EVEN the heavens appeared to wish humanity well this morning, as we say good-bye to the 50th anniversary of the day "a man named Armstrong walked upon the moon.”

This morning's partial lunar eclipse, with Earth's shadow cutting in to our moon's usual round shape, came the morning after the July 16 anniversary.

The mission which gave humans a new glimpse of the fragility of life on Earth, in an otherwise lifeless environment, helped inspire the environment movement and, some say, most of the significant social and political changes that happened in the 20 years afterwards.

The "Earthrise” photograph of Earth above a lifeless moon is said to have changed human perceptions of our shared humanity and the need to treat all life with respect and care.

Astronauts went into space as mostly hard headed scientists and engineers, able somehow to switch off at least some of their sense of wonder in order to do all the thousands of computer keystrokes necessary to get there and back alive.

But they returned as philosophers, eager to share the incredible significance of their experience - like nothing else any human has seen or felt.

This picture of the eclipse, taken on a mobile phone (with a cigarette lighter to trick the light meter into making the moon less glary), may not be the best possible.

You may have something better and The Gympie Times invites readers to send in their best picture of the last eclipse we will see around here until 2021.

According to the people at National Geographic, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth ane moon align so Earth's shadow falls across the lunar disk.