As promised here is a larger view of the moon at totality; just click on the image to see the large version.
Click image for a larger view …
| Camera Optics Focal Length Focal Ratio ISO Autoguiding? Subs Total Exposure |
Canon 40D (unmodified) Canon 500 f4 L IS + 1.4 extender 700mm f8 1250 No 1 4s |
An eclipse of the moon happens when the Sun, Earth & Moon are lined up, such that the Earth’s shadow falls across the moon. Once the moon is fully in the shadow, light reaching the moon is only that which has passed through the Earth’s atmosphere; since most of the blue is scattered away, the moon starts to appear orange or maybe even red. A quick look at the blue channel of the camera (see below) shows how little blue is reaching the moon. This is a few minutes after totality was reached.
In the small, rather shaky hand held image below you can see the moon’s position in relation to Regulus (above right) and Saturn (top left corner).
Unfortunately the cloud swept in very thickly by 3-30am and it was raining shortly afterwards, so I did not have chance to image the second half of the eclipse. I feel very lucky to have seen as much as I did. Got to wait a few years now, for the next one.
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