Total Lunar Eclipse 2014

[Not a Number]

Should be visible from most of North America and Canada. First effects from the penumbra have already started. Total eclipse begins at 3:07am EDT (12:07am PDT).

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/aprils-total-eclipse-of-the-moon/

If you are still up and the skies are clear grab your binoculars or camera and have a looksee.

 

[Nepenthesis]

There's so much fog I can't see it clearly... Was really looking forward to a red moon.

I wish we had a colorful moon like Io. White is so bland.

 

[Tanukimo]

There's so much fog I can't see it clearly... Was really looking forward to a red moon.

I wish we had a colorful moon like Io. White is so bland.

Same here. That, and my neighbor has a really tall tree blocking most of the view.

 

[rcl27]

I'd take white if it also shot out geysers of water like Europa or Enceladus.

You can see the shadow pretty well now. Spica looks awesome being about 1/2 degree from the moon (the full moon is 1/2 a degree). Just for reference, the bright red "star" up and to the right of the moon is Mars. If you go to the left about twice the distance of Mars and slightly down, the bright yellowish looking star is Saturn. If you are in the suburbs you should be able to see the two stars Zuben Elgenubi and Zuben Elschemali in Libra making a small triangle with Saturn. I just love those names so had to point them out lol. Those in the central timezone and west should be able to still see Jupiter in the west although it is pretty low in the horizon right about now.

The way you know you are looking at a planet is the "star" well actually stay steady. Any other normal star will flicker as thermals in our atmosphere go across the point of light. Astronomy was my hobby of choice until I started getting distracted by carnivorous plants lol.

 

[Not a Number]

Thanks for the info. I recognized Mars and Saturn. I used to spend hours peering through my Sears refractor telescope when I was a kid.

I managed to get a few shots before a huge cloud came by. It might still pass. What I missed was a jetliner that crossed almost dead center over the moon. Since I was in mirror lock up mode (2 sec delay) I couldn't catch that. It would have been an awesome shot.

Uncropped or corrected, will do later. I don't have clockworks for my tripod mount. Some light clouds.

100mm lens

switched to 1000mm cat lens

 

[rcl27]

Those are some pretty nice shots! What kind of camera are you using? I am too lazy to setup my 12" dob right now (plus it is 31 degrees outside) but here is a shot from the 12/21/2010 lunar eclipse. I just took this with my iPhone 4 up to the eyepiece.

 

[rcl27]

That sucks you missed the plane too. A few months back the ISS was flying directly over the disk of the moon. I had about .3 seconds to catch it. I spent 2 and a half hours setting up and making sure it was perfect and my damn iphone 4s locked up because it was too cold right as it flew over.

On the exact opposite end of the luck spectrum, this photo of the 2012 Venus transit is by far my favorite shot I have taken so far. I'll just copy and paste my old description from our newsletter.




Venus Transit - My favorite photo of the evening. Literally 7 minutes before sunset, shot through the trees after an hour and a half of cloud cover. The telescope had drifted off target so I frantically had to slew it back in sight which took me around 2-3 minutes. Once I finally got it in I managed to get two shots on my iPhone until it died. This image was literally 4 seconds before it shut off.
That's a tree on the left side, clouds randomly over the sun, and Venus in the mid-right of the disk. This was actually taken through a white light filter so the red color is just from the atmosphere distorting the image so close to the horizon.

 

[kulamauiman]

Reporting in form Maui. 200 mm lens

 

[divaskid]

Very nice Mach! I'm going to download my pics in the morning. I hope mine are as awesome as yours!

 

[Not a Number]

I'm using an old Pentax K10D with a 10 megapixel sensor. It's not noted for it's low light performance so there is quite a bit of noise at higher ISO (1600 max).

Murphy's Law in full effect between clouds, buildings and the battery pooping out I did manage to get some shots. Fortunately the view was clear on the other side of the building when the battery died and I was able to move to my balcony and use a power adapter.

The light was so dim I had to guess at the focus. Unfortunately the focus ring got moved when I was relocating the camera. That plus clouds and high speed noise - not the sharpest pictures.

You can see Spica in the 3rd shot. I'll do a more consistent crop and adjust the exposures later. Time to hit the sack

PS: Here are some awesome shots on the Pentax Forums
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/257679-night-lunar-eclipse-pics.html

 

[DragonsEye]

Bummed I didn't get to see it. Was overcast and snowing last night.

Been a long time since I got to see a blood moon.

 

[divaskid]

Here's a couple of my pics . Seems I had a focusing issue, but it was awesome to see though!