In July, there was a lunar eclipse. In preparation, I left the city I live, Leeds, in and spent a few days in Northumberland where the skies are much darker and hoped for a beautiful view. On the night, the whole sky was covered in cloud and I couldn’t see a thing. Without any hope of seeing the event, I got an early night.
The next morning, I woke up to a barrage of messages from friends who live in London. One had seen the eclipse by accident, looking out of a train and captured the red glow of the moon on her phone. Another had seen it from their ninth-storey window. In the biggest city in the country.
When it comes to astronomy, nothing is guaranteed. You can be in the darkest skies and see nothing, or you can get a beautiful view in the middle of a city.
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Abigail Beall 