July 2010

Lunar event has caravanners spellbound

Spectacular eclipse beats the movie

WHILE Australian Twilight Saga fans waited patiently for the Eclipse movie to be released, hundreds of caravanning stargazers on the east coast enjoyed their own eclipse spectacular.

Travellers overnighting in NSW and Queensland eastern and coastal areas had a front-row seat as nearly half the full moon slowly vanished under the Earth's shadow.

Caravanning News reader Bryan Wright, from South Australia, emailed us this photograph after grabbing his camera to capture the partial eclipse.

He said: "We were spending the night on a rest area between Gympie and Maryborough and had just watched the Doc Martin programme on television. I went outside to turn off the generator and noticed part of the moon was obscured. I checked on the internet and read about the eclipse ... I didn't know a thing about it until then. It was a real surprise."

The June 26 eclipse, which occurs about four times every two years when the Earth moves between the sun and moon, began at 8.16pm (AEST) in a cloudless sky and peaked at 9.39pm before the shadow began diminishing.

"It was a perfect night and a great show," explained Mr Wright, who is travelling around Australia with wife Jocelyn in their Jayco poptop.

"I am so grateful I didn't miss it."

• Eclipse, the third film in the world popular vampire-werewolf Twilight Saga series, opened in Australia on July 1.