Total Lunar Eclipse
Posted: 31 January 2018
Tuesday evening, 30 January 2018, was mostly cloudy. The Moon rose over the hill to the east 12 hours before Mid-Eclipse of Wednesday morning's Total Lunar Eclipse. I took these photos using a Nikon D7200 DSLR + Tamron 150-600mm lens:
f/6.3, 1/640sec, ISO 200, White Balance Auto, FL 600mm
f/6.3, 1/30sec, ISO 200, White Balance Auto, FL 190mm
Equipment Used:
12x50 binoculars
Camera:
D7200 DSLR
I did not open the observatory for the Total Lunar Eclipse, which occurred with the Moon near perigee. The sky was mostly clear Wednesday morning, 31 January. The only clouds that were visible were along the western horizon.
0415 MST: I set up the Nikon D7200 DSLR + Tamron 150-600mm lens on the house front patio:
This location provided a clear view of the western horizon as the Moon would set during the eclipse.
Here are times of the major events for the Lunar Eclipse at my location:
0448 MST: Partial Eclipse began
0551 MST: Total Eclipse began
0630 MST: Mid-Eclipse
0708 MST: Total Eclipse ended
0719 MST: Sunrise
0723 MST: Moonset
I took this sequence of images using a focal length of 600mm beginning at 0430 MST (left) through 0630 MST (mid-eclipse, right):
Click or tap on image for larger version
This photo, focal length 600mm, was taken at mid-eclipse:
Using 12x50 binoculars I watched the eclipse. As the Moon was darkened, more and more stars began appearing, making for a pretty view of the eclipsed moon. This photo, focal length 150mm, taken at mid-eclipse shows the Moon and stars:
0649 MST: this was the last photo of the eclipsed Moon that I was able to take:
0704 MST: with the sky getting brighter and the eclipsed Moon getting lower (and going behind some clouds), the Total Lunar Eclipse observing ended for me.
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