2015’s Total Eclipses: March, April, Sept

Today March 20 2015 will go down in history as the day when a super new moon eclipsed the sun on the first day of spring. Because of the remote location of the eclipse, few saw it. But for those who did, as the video shows, it was quite spectacular.

Astronomically, it is an exceptional day: the next will be in August 2017. But for North America, two more total eclipses are on the horizon. As eclipses come in pairs, in two weeks, in the wee hours from 3:15am-dawn of Saturday April 4, many of us in western North America will be able to watch a lunar eclipse. The greatest part of the eclipse lasts only five minutes around 5am Saturday morning April 4 –so set your alarms early and wake and watch! The September 27/28 super moon will actually be the closest of the year, and will coincide with a lunar eclipse–which we will be able to see here in Southern California. In fact, in the LA area, the process starts just after 5pm, before the moon rises at 6:39pm and the sun sets at 6:43pm. The full eclipse starts just after 7pm and ends nearly 90 minutes later. The mate to this eclipse is a partial solar one on Sunday Sept. 13  visible from Southern Africa, Madagascar, and Antartica.

Closer to home, we marked the day with a walk up a steep hill above town at sunset and moon set. Locals call the place “Two Trees.” ( UPDATE Saturday March 21: I turned the rest of this post into its own post. Read more about the history of Two Trees here–sorry about any inconvenience.)

It doesn’t take an eclipse to make a day remarkable — it is you, remarking on it, noticing the sky, the trees, the clouds, your breath, and the breath of the earth. Each day is remarkable, when we pay attention.

The first day of spring, the first new moon of spring is an ideal time to dig in deep. What do you find hidden in the shadow? What will the eclipse reveal for you? What will you plant? What will you grow?