DOZENS OF PEOPLE at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland pulled out lawn chairs, set up their telescopes, and bundled up in thick blankets as they gathered with excitement for a lunar eclipse watch party early Tuesday morning.
Locals from across the Bay Area sipped hot chocolate and patiently waited hours for the clock to strike 3:04 a.m., the time when the moon would be completely eclipsed from the Sun behind the Earth’s shadow.
Coined the blood moon for its rustic red hue, the eclipse — which only happens every two and a half years on average — was visible with the naked eye for people in east Asia, Australia, and to those living in the Americas.
Staff at Chabot prepared eclipse-themed crafts and an assortment of other activities for those attending the local watch party. A small presentation was also prepared to help explain the phenomena to the stargazers.
Gerald McKeegan worked for over 40 years on space programs like the Space Shuttle and is currently a board member at Chabot. He was excited to help run the Bay Area’s “place for space” where people could find community as they learned about the world around them.
“The fact that people come up here and take a break from the news and look away from their phones and look at something that’s real, that’s natural, and that’s fascinating, and get curious about, to me that’s a thrill,” said McKeegan.
Just before 3 a.m. a dense fog rolled over the observatory, but people remained in good spirits as they waited for the moon to turn red. Some went inside the observatory dome to watch online while other remained outside, hoping the fog would clear enough for a glimpse of the celestial object.
Bundled in a puffy jacket and multiple blankets sat Meg Hsu in a lawn chair, practicing their knitting as they chatted with their friend Kaziah Auran. Both traveled from Concord to Oakland because they wanted to be in the best place to see the eclipse.
“I’ve never seen like an eclipse like this, and so it seems fun to like come out here,” said Hsu.
Sahil Bansal drove from Sunnyvale to Oakland for the lunar eclipse watch party. A self-described astronomy fan, he said it was a dream made real to be at an observatory for the eclipse.
“I really, really like space, enough to drive here,” said Bansal. “My options were Sierra Vista [Open Space Preserve], or somewhere random and I felt like here they will have some fancy telescopes.”
Blood moons are not rare, but another complete totality event like the one on Tuesday is not expected until late 2028 in Europe or early 2029 again in the Bay Area.