Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Total Lunar Eclipse

I wasn’t sure I would make it…but I certainly was going to try.  For crying out loud…how many people get to see this kind of thing!!  And due to the weather in most of the country last night, we were quite fortunate to have a pretty clear view!!

So a little about this rare event and then I’ll share my photos!

This was a total lunar eclipse…rare in itself.  What made this one even more amazing was that it fell on the same day as the winter solstice…and event that has not happened in over 300 years [372 years to be exact].  

What is a lunar eclipse:  It is when the earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the moon. 

So here are my photos attempting to capture this rare cosmic event:

IMG_0891-2This was around 1:30 am EST…a beautiful full moon…but no signs of the eclipse yet!IMG_0897-2At 2:21 am EST, you can see the partial eclipse as the earth begins to pass between the sun and the moon.IMG_0906-2By 3:02 am EST, the eclipse is just about complete.  the gorgeous reddish-brown color is now visible.  Also, if you look closely, there are now visible stars in the image since the moon is no longer bright.IMG_0911-2 This is just minutes later…3:04 am EST…just playing with the manual settings and changing the exposure. IMG_0913-2 The final shot…3:05 am EST!  I didn’t stay up to shoot the back half of the eclipse…this was way past bed time!  Hope you enjoy!!

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2 comments:

shirley said...

Beautiful, Lindsay! We had cloudy skies all night long, so no eclipse shooting for me (although I was up at the time for a little bit). Thank you for sharing - now I feel as if I actually got to see it in person.

McKay Family said...

Thanks Shirley! It seems a lot of people missed it due to weather. at one point I thought I was going to fall asleep on the sidewalk...it was definitely a late night!