Waiting for the Lunar Eclipse

Yet another excuse to photograph the moon, Tonight there was a full lunar eclipse[se expected to be visible over most of Australia. It had been a generally overcast day with just a few glimpse of sun, but I wasn't optimistic about a cloud free sky to catch the eclipse. At sunset I checked the clouds and a there where a few clear patches developing, but it soon clouded over again . Then just after 8pm (we are on daylight saving now) the clouds thinned and cleared completely as the first of the earth shadow started to cover the moon. This lasted about 40 minutes just enough time to get a decent sequence of the shadow progressively covering the moons surface, Just as things where going well over came the clouds. I only got a few glimpses of the flush of red colouring as totality approached and nothing after that.

Look out for the Lunar eclipse on Friday Morning

There is another lunar eclipse about to happen on Thursday night to early Friday morning before sunrise.It will be a partial eclipse for New Zealand and eastern Australia in the hours lending up to day break. In Indonesian there will be a full eclipse earlier in the morning. I happen to be in Jakarta at the moment so I will be hoping for clear skies. Its been very wet and overcast here for the past few days but tonight there was some hope the clouds cleared and the sky was clear enough to get a good view of the moon.

I did some some decent photos for the last partial/almost full lunar eclipse in June 2011. Including a free wallpaper/poster, which you can download from flickr.

There will be 2 more lunar eclipse this year.

smiley face 2

The lunar, venus & jupiter alignment was visiable as the sun set so I took the opportunity to do a few multi-image series that I could splice together with autostitch. The panorama below was one of the last and I used the "night scene" mode, which unfortunately over exposed and blurred out the moon and the planets but it produced wonderful colours aqnd lighting.

More wallpapers

You are free to download these wallpapers for private use, just click on any image above. That takes you to my wallpaper area on flickr, use the All Sizes option to see a larger image, and use Set Wallpaper option in your browser on the displayed image or download it to your computer. If the image size is not correct for your screen, you can use the Stretch option, which will enlarge or shrink the wallpaper to fit.

lunar eclipse :: as it happens

Maybe this a bad ideas, beacuse it is a very cloudy start, but i'll try it anyway. I'll be updated this post as the eclipse happens. But remember the most recent pictures will be at the top, so read the sequence from bottom right and backwards up to top right.

PS I was a bit stressed trying to do this and keep watching for breaks in the clouds, but I think it worked out in the end.

Pre-quel :: lunar eclipse, techniques & hints

MrEclipse.com has a good summary of techniques and hints for lunar eclipse photography, along with some excellent examples. The eclipse takes a while and a big advantage of having a digital camera is you will have plenty of time to review your photos and perhaps make some adjustments, or why not get out tonight and try a few of the techniques discussed in the link above.

Even if you don't plan to photograph it, it is an event your should make an effort to get outside and watch.

Photo Opportunity, lunar eclipse

Want to know what an eclipse of the moon has to do with chickens nibblies and Christopher Columbus? Listen to the latest science show podcast, and find out why it will turn red. In any event the full eclipse, visible across eastern Australia, should be a photographers delight, The eclipse will last from 5:52pm to 11:22pm Eastern Australian Standard Time, 28th August 2007. With the most interesting red phase at 8:37pm. I hope to get a decent 15 minute apart sequence, so I'm hoping it won't be cloudy. (Remember the tripod)

Ten to 8 Tuesday night till about 9:20pm will be the best time to view the lunar eclipse from the east coast of Australia.

There is a fact sheet about the lunar eclipse on the Astronomical Society of Australia wesite