One Great Experience- Witnessing the Eclipse of the Moon- Part Two

After Isyak prayers we  had our dinner  at a nearby restaurant. As we chose to sit in the open air section, we had the chance to view the night sky. Alhamdulillah, just as we were about to sit and order  our dinner, the wind blew strongly and pushed the clouds away from the moon.  The results?  A very clear night sky! Just as I  finished my dinner, I decided to search the moon again with the hope of getting a better view. Voila! The full lunar eclipse was about to start. 


I told a few restaurant workers that passed by my table about this exciting scene as I pointed to the moon. Then more and and more workers came out to look at the eclipse. We decided to dash home to witness this spectacular using binoculars and telescope.  ( Actually  we only have the toy ones  he he. But this exciting moments shouldn't be let passed by.)

Alhamdulillah, when we reached home, the eclipse was even clearer. There were no clouds around the moon. We were able to sit outside, in front of our house and watched this spectacular view using our naked eyes. From far the spherical image of the moon with the background of the lights in the night sky  looked like a picture. 


From the start of the full moon eclipse, then partial eclipse and finally the most beautiful scene was the one that looked like a ring was indeed breathtaking view MasyaAllah, it was indeed amazing. Soon after that the moon started to move out of the umbra and we noticed  the brightening of the moonlight again. 


Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for enabling my family and I witness this historic phenomenon.

One Great Experience- Witnessing the Eclipse of the Moon- Part One

http://science.howstuffworks.com/lunar-eclipse1.htm

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to witness the eclipse of the moon for the whole hour. Yeah, what's so interesting about the moon eclipse? One might blurt out that question.  Have you ever seen  one  yet? Let me relate my first hand experience witnessing this unique phenomena. 


 At first it was really cloudy. When I tried to locate the moon outside my house all I could see was only clouds. That was around 9 pm. Alhamduliillah, the weather was pleasant  with nice cool breeze that also cools down our anxiousness.   


Hours before that my daughter had browsed the internet about the actual time of the eclipse and  what we actually would expect to see. The words umbra and penumbra came out. As an ex Science teacher, I had taught about this natural phenomenon several times. In fact I drew a poster to ensure that my students understand what is umbra and penumbra. Eventhough the word seemed familiar, I could hardly recall what exactly umbra and penumbra. That was when I had to dig out my children's PMR Science books. Alhamdulillah, I was able to find the diagram that I used to refer when I taught back then.

My husband went the mosques for Maghrib prayers and decided to stay back and attend the solat gerhana. Earlier my daughter had to browse the internet again on how to perform eclipse solat(solat gerhana). Hmm..the solat gerhana had two rukuks on each rakaat. Otherwise the solat is performed the same as the other solat sunat. 

After Maghrib prayers, I decided to wait  for the beggining of the ecclipse of the moon which was about half an hour after Maghrib. Then when the time of the eclipse began, I  performed my very first eclipse solat at home. Alhamdulillah, even though I had to do it alone, I was grateful to be able to perform the solat. Several years ago I performed together with the other muslim ladies at the mosque as it was Ramadhan and we usually  go to the mosque for tarawih prayers. This time i was unable to go the mosque due to unforeseen reasons.

To be continued.