I live in Phoenix, Arizona.  Last night, March 30 I swear I saw a
lunar eclipse but there is nothing in the papers about it.  My
co-workers are telling me it was a cloud but I know it wasn't. My
husband and daughter watched it too.  When I noticed it there was just
a sliver of the bottom of the moon showing.  Then, slowly, it
completely disappeard and started to come back again.  It was as if
the thing blocking the moon was moving horizontally because the bottom
of moon reappeard again (not the top). Did I see a lunar eclipse in
Phoenix last night?

Dear jentfaz-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. I
cannot attest to what it was you might have seen, but it was clearly
not a lunar eclipse. Given our current technology scientists can
predict with absolute certainly (assuming everything stays in it?s
current orbit) all lunar and solar eclipses visible from earth over a
period spanning thousands of years.

NASA
5000-year catalog: 
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEcat/LEcatalog.html
Years 2001-2100 catalog: 
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEcat/LE2001-2100.html

The first lunar eclipse of 2006 occurred on March 14, 2006 and was
visible only from the European and African continents.

NASA
Data: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2006.html
Graphic: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/image1/LE2006Mar14-Fig1.GIF

The next lunar eclipse visible from anywhere earth will not occur
until September 7, 2006:

NASA
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2006.html#2006Sep07P


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



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Answered my question and provided links to back it up.  Thanks.

I saw that... I also live in Phoenix.  No lunar eclipse was mentioned
anywhere though.

In agreeing with tutuzdad-ga, I think it's worth noting two things:

1) There was, on March 29th, a solar eclipse, which was visible mainly
in the areas from West Africa to Mongolia.  A solar eclipse happens
when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun.  A lunar eclipse
happens when the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun.  Here a basic
diagram:

Solar Eclipse:  Sun --- Moon --- Earth

Lunar Eclips:   Sun ------------ Earth --- Moon

Since the Moon takes about 28 days to orbit the Earth (or 14 days to
go half-way around), a solar eclipse and lunar eclipse cannot possibly
happen on the same day (or even in the same week).

2) During a lunar eclipse, the moon starts out full, gets eclipsed,
then returns to being full again, all within the course of a couple
hours.  On the night in question, the moon was not full, but rather a
tiny sliver.  If you go out tonight, two nights later, you'll note
that the moon is still a waxing crescent, not even close to full. 
Since it is always a full moon, and never a crescent, that gets
eclipsed, it couldn't have been a lunar eclipse that you saw.

Ok, maybe it wasn't an eclipse. I have to trust the facts.  But at
least I know I'm not seeing things.  Thank you, tlspiegel-ga, for
telling me you saw it too.

Is phoenix near Roswell, NM ? :)

An hourly listing of cloud conditions in Phoenix for March 29, 2006,
shows "mostly cloudy" or "scattered clouds" for every hour on March
29. I know you knew this, but since I'm not in Phoenix, I wanted to
see for myself how many clouds there were on March 29.

http://www.weatherunderground.com/history/airport/KPHX/2006/3/29/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA