When the moon rose through a band of low clouds, it began a transition of colors and intensity that seemed to change each minute during the three-hour, 26-minute eclipse.

More than 50 people assembled on a hill behind the Fort Steilacoom campus, looking through their own telescopes and binoculars or those brought by members of the Tacoma Astronomical Society.

Among them were 9-year-old Ash Woods, his mother, Kim, and father, Sabin. The Lakewood family broke out Ash’s new telescope for the first time to watch the eclipse unfold.

“It looks like there’s chocolate syrup in front of it,” Ash said after one observation.

Tacoma cousins Mylinh Phan, 10, and Binh Truong, 9, darted from telescope to telescope and borrowed binoculars as they scanned the night sky.

“This is a great chance to see how the moon changes colors,” Truong said.

“I like the light, the color and how it forms and came into a line like that,” Phan chimed in.

Totality, during which the moon is completely immersed within the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, began at 7:01 p.m. and lasted just under 50 minutes.

The entire event was visible from South America and most of North America, as well as Western Europe, Africa and western Asia.

The eclipse occurred as the moon passed through the Earth’s shadow.

The moon first passed through the outer shadow, the penumbra. It’s lighter as the Earth blocks only some of the light from the sun. During this phase, the moon was a yellowish gray.

But it slowly darkened into a mix of red and gray as it entered the umbra, where the Earth blocks all the light from the sun. As the moon rose, wisps of clouds gave it the striped appearance of Jupiter.

Alice Few, an astronomy club member, was in constant motion. She directed people to telescopes she brought, explained what was happened as the moon transitioned from a brilliant orb to a dark sphere and answered plenty of questions.

Although the moon was the main attraction, there were other celestial sights to see. Each new discovery was introduced with a shout of excitement.

“I saw the rings, I saw the rings of Saturn,” Truong said after one observation.

If you missed Wednesday night’s show, you’ll have to wait until December 2010, when the next such event will be visible in the South Sound.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure