Lunar eclipse from January 21, 2000, Seward, Alaska.
There is going to be another lunar eclipse tonight, although unfortunately, it looks like much of North America will be under clouds. This is the first total lunar eclipse in about 3 years. The moon will begin to enter earths shadow at 10:32 Pacific Time. The sunlight on the full moon will be completely blocked by the earth from 11:40 to 12:53 Pacific time. The shadow should be off the moon at 2:02 a.m. Pacific time.
This photo was from back in the days I used slide film. I had tracked the moons movement over the preceding days – I was actually surprised at how lateral the moon moved, originally I had expected to shoot this vertically. I realized about 5 minutes between exposures gave me a nice placement. So then on the night of the eclipse, I would take a photo, then back the film up and would repeat so that I made multiple exposures on a single piece of film. I had to hope the exposure was right because there were no re-dos. Looking back at this image reminds me just how much easier digital cameras have made photography!
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Good luck seeing it tonight! It seems that the clouds are going to block the sky tonight here in Hawaii. 🙁
Ron thanks for the heads up on that! I have been so wrapped up in work that I would have totally missed it without this post!
I will see what I can rustle up around here in Vegas… Perhaps the clouds will part for just a little while!
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When I saw the title of your Tweet, I was like oh man. Alaska gets the eclipse for once and we are rained out in So Cal?!? 🙂
I think I might actually be one of those lucky enough to see this tonight (in single digit temps…brrrr). I like the size of the moon in your attached image, and I’m wondering if you recall the focal length used. With basically one shot at a sequence (in and out of the eclipse), I’m having a hard time deciding whether to try a wide-angle with foreground and tiny moon or something in the short telephoto range (200mm is my max). Any thoughts?
Is this blue sky right now giving you hope? Awesome shot!
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Thanks everyone!
@ Julie – it is looking promising.
@ Kent I don’t remember, I believe it was 400mm That is a good question, and one I have been wondering about myself. If it was happening closer to sunset, I would go wide angle for sure. Unfortunately for Alaska, it is going to be pretty high, almost straight over head making the wide angle options more limited.
@ Richard – that is backwards isn’t it.
@ Chis Good luck!
@ Jon – bummer.
I hope you get to see it, Ron. It will be visible here in the NY area, but quite chilly in the middle of the night. I’ll leave my coat and hat by the front door and set my alarm, so I can run out and look for a minute, anyway!
I’m watching it now from my back door in Santa Fe. We have some haze, but the moon’s very visible; we seem to be just south of the cloud bank that’s covering much of the West. I’ve got the tripod up and am snapping some pictures, of course, why wouldn’t I, but I don’t have high hopes for anything very exciting. Like Ron said, if it were nearer the horizon I might have driven somewhere with landscape features and gone for the wide angle. But it’s pretty much at the zenith. Still an awesome sight!
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I agree – very cool sight, but too bad it wasn’t a bit lower in the sky. Glad you could see it Jackson! Hopefully you had success Toby.
It was nice to wake up and see this picture as your blog. I fell asleep and missed the “show” but thanks to you, I “got the picture” of what happened. 🙂
I remember shooting an eclipse with you using black and white film from our patio in Lakeside, California. Hope you got some good shots last night, alas, I fell asleep in my recliner at 8:30PM. I feel like an elderly senior during my recovery from shoulder surgery.
Love, Mom
Great photo! Very clever getting all the images as one picture. I remember watching this in Perth skies some years ago and the copper glow was beautiful to see.
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Thanks everyone!
Mom, I do remember you shooting the eclipse.
Unfortunately we had cloud cover here in Sedona too so all I could see was a hazy round spot behind the clouds, and in the middle of the eclipse it was just a darker spot, didn’t have the color I was looking for at all. Thanks for sharing your image with us!
Unless people want to get a profile of the skyline (like Cathedral Rock here in Sedona) in a photo of the moon, it doesn’t matter where it is in the sky the size is the same. An optical illusion makes it look larger when it is near the skyline.
I learned just a few years ago (when over 70yo) that it takes 18 1/2 years for the moon to complete its cycle. That means that buildings at Chaco Canyon based on lunar cycles took one heck of a lot of patience and study!
Film – that’s such a four-letter word these days. 🙂
Still, that’s a great shot!
I agree – very cool sight, but too bad it wasn’t a bit lower in the sky. Glad you could see it Jackson! Hopefully you had success Toby.
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Hi Joni – Bummer you didn’t get to see it in Sedona. I do realize that the moon doesn’t change size, but that is an optical illusion that works well in photographs.
Thanks Gary!
Thanks Barbara!
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