Photo By Jim DeLillo
The Winter Solstice carries with it a promise of warmer weather and last night coincided with a full lunar eclipse. The last time a Winter Solstice and full lunar eclipse passed together in the night was almost 500 years ago. Some say the moon can evoke both romance and madness; and coming in the midst of the work week, madness might have been more common as evident by parents rousing their children from bed to witness the celestial event. The stillness of the night was invaded by more than a few children who were woken from their silent sleep to gaze into the night sky. The sky was crystal clear, and ice cold air gave the stars an added brightness and twinkle that grew greater as the earth’s shadow passed over the moon. The moon’s color changed slowly and softly in the process, beginning with what appeared to be a yellowish hue, and progressing on to the orange color depicted in the photograph by local photographer Jim DeLillo. DeLillo a fine art, photojournalist, and exclusive photographer for iStockphoto which is now owned by Getty Images, has in the past made use of high tech telescopes and computer technology to create brilliant photographs of space. The images give credence to those who poetically refer to the skies as “the heavens”. The full lunar eclipse, while occurring in the dead of night, had a large audience as many people along the eastern seaboard stayed up late or set alarms to witness the majestic event. The full moon lit up the land prior to the eclipse making the outdoors brighter at 1am than it had been at just 5pm. Outside, the occasional bark of a dog could be heard to confirm the presence of another Oakland denizen on watch for this once in a lifetime event.