Lunar eclipse tomorrow night

AdWright

AdWright

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Here's something to look out for, if it's a clear night (and if you have a decent telephoto lens)

The Register said:
For the first time since 2004 the UK is set to bask in the spooky reddish light of a full lunar eclipse, so step away from your computer and hope for clear skies.

This Saturday night (3 March) the Earth will move between the sun and the moon. The Earth will cast its shadow on the moon, leaving our largest natural satellite to bask only in refracted Earthlight, which it reflects back to us in all its bloody glory.

The actual colour of the reflected Earthlight depends on the condition of the Earth's atmosphere, particularly its dust content. It can be anything from a deep coppery red to a dull grey.

Proceedings begin shortly after 8pm, when the moon moves into our planet's penumbral shadow. It takes a little over an hour for it to move into the darker umbra, but this stage should begin by half past nine, and reach totality by a quarter to eleven.

The eclipse will last for around 75 minutes, finishing two minutes before midnight. The moon will be totally out of our shadow by half past two in the morning.

The weather looks reasonably promising too...®
Click to expand...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/01/moon_going_red/
 
Thanks for that, fingers crossed it's clear.
 
I'm actually going out for the evening :bang: - So no "cloudy" excuse from me petemc (wth is that avatar btw!)
Paul ;)
 
75 minutes to do it. (y)

Thanks for pointing this out, AdWright.

Edit: :eek: Is it tonight?!

Oh no. It's Sat the 3rd. :bonk:

It's going to be cloudy and rainy tomorrow afternoon in Cambridge. Will it clear up in time? :shrug:
 
I have been ill for weeks and I was looking forward to hitting the town tomorrow night. I think I might give it a skip since chances are it will be cloudy.
 
Awsome. Will have to see about trying to get some shots :D

I assume spot metering on the moon itself would be the best way to get the right exposure? Damn it! Why do I not have a Nikkor 400mm f2.8?! :(

Many thanks for the heads up!
 
Might well be out shooting so I'll post my humble efforts if I do. The Mrs could give birth any minute now so theres been no drinking for me for a while, good excuse to shoot pictures though.
 
Cool, will get my son's telescope out and my cam...
Great heads up cheers :)
 
Depending on cloud cover I will be making an attempt at this..:nuts:
 
It's a beautiful clear night here with a big, bright shiny moon in the sky :D
 
If you don't already have some astronomy software, I recommend Stellarium, google for it, it's free and very high quality. If you run it on fast forward it will actually show you the moon going into eclipse and exactly where in the sky etc it will be (not that it will be hard to spot anyway)
 
I might venture out into the countryside later for this :)

I've taken a test shot, and it shows up the softness of my Sigma(!), but nevermind 'ey? :D

moon.jpg


It's meant to be at about 11pm isn't it?
 
Nice one Matt ... (y)

So ... anyone give us a guide as to best settings to capture this beastie in all its gory glory then ... :shrug:







:p
 
Just been looking on the guardian website - and it seems the times in the UK are different. An hour later it seems.

Dramatic views of the eclipse, at its height from 10.24pm to 11.58pm, are promised almost everywhere in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Click to expand...
 
Nice and clear here in Bristol.... just need to stay awake...
 
Steep said:
If you don't already have some astronomy software, I recommend Stellarium, google for it, it's free and very high quality. If you run it on fast forward it will actually show you the moon going into eclipse and exactly where in the sky etc it will be (not that it will be hard to spot anyway)
Click to expand...

Excellent heads up there Steep and very easy to figure out too ... (y) ... just as well really ... ;)

So far after a right crappy wet and windy (outside ... :D) ... evening it is a fabulously clear night here ... and according to Steep's recommended software ... the 'star' twinkling about one o'clock from the moon and second one up is actually Saturn ... :thinking: ... two for the price of one ... :shrug:

Good luck everyone who is going to try and catch it for posterity ... might be too late/cold for me though ... :D







:p
 
wow I am tired - just read that first post again and seems I was talking crap about it being a different time....I really should read more carefully. Didnt think eclipses usually took that long? 8-12 in total?
 
10 past 9 and the old lunar ball still looks the same as always....

Still not a cloud in the sky :D
 
Don't worry if it's too cloudy tonight as this is the first of two lunar eclipse this year. The second will be on the 28 August, so time to save up for that Canon EF 600mm f/4.0 L IS USM or Nikon 600mm f/4 ED-IF II AF-S you have all been promising yourselves.
 
Venomator said:
Nice one Matt ... (y)

So ... anyone give us a guide as to best settings to capture this beastie in all its gory glory then ... :shrug:







:p
Click to expand...
I'm currently using ISO100, f8, 1/100s and it seems OK according to the histogram (ie spread right across but not off the scale). Wonder if I should back off a bit? I notice Matt has gone for a darker exposure and seems to have a bit more detail.

Only got a 180 though, so this is a drastic crop.

DSC_0004_17.jpg
 
9:30 and the bottom of the moon is starting to go dark. And still no clouds (y)
 
Just looked out the window and I can see the eclipse has started.

Going cloudy here, but will drive up on to the moors later and hope for a break. Only have a 200mm so it will be a huge crop :LOL:
 
Got my old 1000mm russian lens rigged up to the 300d, it's soft as a very very soft thing in cotton wool but maybe I'll get something useable out of it!...
 
Got my 20D 200x1.4 on a £14 tripod :wacky:
Mirror lockup. ISO100, f9, 250th sec (currently). 'bout ready for the 3rd shot.
 
Already posted in "bite out of the cheese!"
 
Not at all sharp, but I'm getting tired now and struggling to focus with this lens. Amazing colours, but think I've seen enough for one night!

IMG_1741.jpg
 
If you go to about 1 o'clock from the moon the bright star ther is actually Saturn, we've just had a superb view of it and the rings are angled nicely :) Once the lunar eclpse passes and the moon becomes brighter it'll be much harder to see.
 
Tried to put a different slant on this.. But you dont realise how much motion blur comes into play..
Was surprised to see so much colour cast..
red-tint.jpg
 
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