Showing posts with label eclipse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eclipse. Show all posts

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Partial Lunar Eclipse, June 26, 2010

Here are a few pics I shot this morning of the partial lunar eclipse with a digital SLR camera on a tripod.

Partial eclipses can be tricky. To capture the illumination on the eclipsed portion of the Moon you pretty much need to over expose the rest.

The orange color in the eclipsed portion of the Moon comes from the orange glow of sunsets and sunrises around Earth shining on to the Moon.

Trying to capture much in the way of landscape (or telescope dome) also gives you the over exposed Moon phenomenon.

But as the Moon got lower and we got closer to twilight it began to be possible to start to be easier to catch more of the landscape.

Finally the glow of twilight made it easier to capture all the detail on the land and sky that I was after, but I no longer had a good vantage point to combine the dome and sky the way I was hoping to.



Eventually the terrain got in the way and I had to relocate. Here is the setting Moon from an overlook on Palomar Mountain. The valleys below are filled with the "marine layer" clouds. Notice that the entire Moon now appears to be orange in color. This isn't due to the eclipse, but rather the Moon's low position in the sky. Just as a setting Sun appears orange, so does the Moon.


The Moon in Earth's Shadow, just before moonset:

Much earlier, just before the maximum eclipse we had a pass of the International Space Station. Fortunately, I was able to switch targets in time. Here is the International Space Station as it passed across the sky near Jupiter with the dome of the Hale Telescope on the right.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Partial Lunar Eclipse Saturday Morning

Early tomorrow (Saturday) morning the moon with move into Earth's shadow producing a partial lunar eclipse. The times for those of us out west, coupled with how it will appear are on the diagram below:


One of the great things about a lunar eclipse that they are easy and, unlike a solar eclipse, safe to view. No optical aid is necessary to view the event, although a pair of binoculars can help the view.

For those in the San Diego area the National Weather service is calling for a deep marine layer, which could block the view. Palomar Observatory is not open for viewing of the eclipse, but any clear location will do to see the event.

This partial eclipse is a warm-up act for the total lunar eclipse that will happen the night of December 20, 2010.

You can learn more from StarDate, NASA, or Sky & Telescope magazine.