Since 1992
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By Wess Connally
For a week or so at the end of last month, all the news outlets were announcing the Jan. 31 appearance of what they were calling a “lunar trifecta,” a super blue blood moon.
It would be “super” because of the moon’s closer-than-usual proximity to the earth; “blue,” since it would be the second full moon of the month; and a “blood” moon because there would also be a lunar eclipse, which would give the moon’s surface a reddish glow.
Historically, this phenomenon is quite rare, to say the least. The last time it occurred over North America was on March 31, 1866, not quite one year after the end of the Civil War. Reconstruction was getting underway. Lincoln’s second-term veep, Andrew Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee, was president. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was in the hands of Congress, following Johnson’s veto of the bill. The U.S. flag had 36 stars. Women did not yet have the right to vote on national issues.
In Maine, 1866 was the year of the Great Fire of Portland. Samuel Cony was serving as governor (to be succeeded the next year by Joshua Chamberlain).
Rangeley, as an incorporated town, was a whole eleven years old. And the same moon was waxing and waning over our tiny blue planet.
All that, just to put this recent lunar activity in context.
The action was to occur here before 8 a.m. that Wednesday. I did not go to bed early the night before, as I should have. As luck would have it, the temperature at home on Dallas Hill that morning was 10 below zero, and, of course, there was a significant windchill. Jumping out of our warm bed (where my wife chose to stay), and outfitting myself like a polar explorer was a bit of a challenge, but, with only a couple moans and groans, I somehow managed.
Out in that rarefied morning air, I took five shots from two different spots along Dallas Hill Road, only one of which made it a worthwhile Rangeley Region adventure, then I took myself back home to thaw out, happily looking forward to hot coffee, breakfast, and a nap.
