Late afternoon on Tuesday, 11 March 2025, winds began increasing and clouds began coming in from an approaching storm system. At 2010 MST SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Unfortunately, an approaching cloud deck hampered the view of the 2nd stage exhaust plume. The bright waxing gibbous Moon illuminated the ground. This is a handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max photo taken with the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 2X lens, handheld).

The first rain arrived at 0100 MST on Wednesday, 12 March, and continued until sunrise (0.5").

The 12th of March 2025 was the 20th Anniversary of my first visit to "Oracle Observatory" (as I called it then). It was the first use of my 20th Anniversary gift from Northrop Grumman (and TRW). It was a nice tent that included this name tag. See my report from back then.

Thursday, 13 March, dawned clear, but by late morning wind and clouds began arriving from an approaching storm system. Thursday night the rain arrived. Fortunately, the rain ended (0.22") as the Penumbral Eclipse phase of the Total Lunar Eclipse began. Here were the local times for the eclipse:

Penumbral Began 2057 MST
Partial Began 2209 MST
Total Began 2326 MST
Greatest Eclipse 2358 MST
Total Ended 0032 MST
Partial Ended 0148 MST
Penumbral Ended 0300 MST

It was cloudy for most of the eclipse, but as mid-eclipse neared I was able to briefly see the eclipsed Moon through rapidly moving thinner clouds. I was able to get these handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max photographs using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds). The clouds and strong wind that was blowing made getting any photos difficult.

2355 MST (1X lens)


2355 MST (2X lens)


2356 MST (5X lens)


2357 MST (2X lens)

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