eclipse
usually lunar eclipses are in the middle of the night. when righteous folks are sound asleep. the last one was early in the morning. and by last one i mean literally the last total lunar eclipse for 3 years. anywho, it was only about half an hour before we normally get up. the skies have been nice and clear recently. so it seemed reasonable we'd be able to see it. in theory, we could see the setting fully eclipsed moon and the rising sun at the same time. in practice, we live in suburbia surrounded by houses and trees and streetlights. didn't even get close to seeing both. still, it was kinda pretty. oddly, it feels warmer before dawn than after it. this is actually a real effect. when the sun comes up it heats the dew. which evaporates. which cools the air. wait. adding heat from the sun lowers the temperature? really? heh. yep. not crazy. temperature is the average kinetic energy of a large number of molecules. there's really quite a wide distribution of temperatures. some molecules are very slow and very cold. others are quite fast and hot. so anywho, the average temperature of the air and dew are the same. until the sun comes up. and heats the dew. the hottest water molecules leap off the grass and into the air. undergoing a phase transition. which takes energy. so they end up being on the cold side. science is my bitch. and sometimes makes me shiver.