Total Lunar Eclipse
Wow! What a beautiful site… that’s the first thought that comes to mind when I try to describe this mornings total lunar eclipse. Lucky. That’s how I feel given that the weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms. I also didn’t have much of a view to the west (where I was expecting the eclipse to happen). Lucky for me, the moon was sitting high in the western sky… just above any and all obstructions. Skies were clear… with just a couple of passing clouds during the couple of hours that I was out observing the event.
Anyway… I was planning on driving a couple of miles to an area that had a better western horizon. When I stepped outside, I thought to myself… cool… let me snap a shot from the deck before I leave. As I stood there looking up and the first stages of the eclipse… I thought to myself… there’s a whole lot of sky between the moon and any possible obstructions. I just might be able to view the entire event from the comfort of my own home. Sweet.
I pulled the tarps off my refractor and hit “Go To”. Wham. There it was. The moon was already 1/3 eclipsed when I first viewed it through the scope. This was looking really cool. Why not take a few photos through the scope I thought? This just might work out in my favor I thought. Boy was that the case. I watched eagerly as Earth’s shadow crept across the face of the moon. At about the 3/4 eclipsed mark, I noticed that the upper reaches of the moon’s surface were beginning to turn a beautiful coppery colored red. SaWeet!
As totality arrived, I was firmly glued to the eyepiece. What an awesome event. I thought it might be a good idea to snap a few more images, so I reattached the camera and began clicking away every minute or so. As I was examining one of the images through the view finder, I noticed a smudge… or a pimple on the western lunar limb. What the heck was that? I zoomed in. Yup… there was something there. I snapped another shot… and zoomed in to see if it was still there. Sure enough, I’d captured the very first instant of an occultation event. Actually, it was the end. A star that had previously been hidden (occulted) by the moon was now drifting out from behind Luna. SAWEET! I snapped a few more shots… the accompanying being about 4 images into the sequence. How cool is this? Getting to view an awesome total lunar eclipse… and then catching the tail end of an occultation event??? In Pictures?
Anyway… I’ve put together an animated gif showing the first 8 images in the sequence. These span about 6 minute of time. Click on the total lunar eclipse animation link to view the event. This is about 1.8mb. It’s made up of the following individual images, lunar eclipse 1, lunar eclipse 2, lunar eclipse 3, lunar eclipse 4, lunar eclipse 5, lunar eclipse 6, lunar eclipse 7, lunar eclipse 8,
Now that the eclipse is over… and I’m typing up a blog post… I just saw the first flash of lightening and heard the first couple of claps of thunder from the forecast thunderstorm. Timing certainly is everything 
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Astronomy, Starry Night Lights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “Total Lunar Eclipse”
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August 28th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Anthony,
How cool you had a great early morning of observing the eclipse. Great account and images.
Here in Chicago, we coaught the early stages fine, but as the eclipse progressed, clouds started to interfere…and at the height of the event.
I smile for you and thank you for sharing.
Chicago Astronomer Joe
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http://astronomer.proboards23.com