Total lunar eclipse, Sun, Sept 27 -- Mon Sept 28

There will be a total lunar eclipse this weekend. The moon is closer than average so it will appear larger than average and the eclipse will last longer than average (totality: 1:12, penumbral 5:11).

Times (EDT):
* Sept 27, 8:12pm: penumbral eclipse begins
* Sept 27, 9:07pm: partial eclipse begins
* Sept 27, 10:11pm: total eclipse begins
* Sept 27, 10:47 pm: maximum eclipse
* Sept 27, 11:23pm: total eclipse ends
* Sept 28, 12:27am: partial eclipse ends
* Sept 28, 1:23am: penumbral eclipse ends

Sunday night is currently forecast to be partly cloudy in the Boston area.

The next total lunar eclipse will be in 2018.

Doug

Will he up in Acadia this weekend. Should be good viewing.

Photo taken from southern Rhode Island at 10:46pm. Used a 200mm lens on a tripod.....heavy cropping softened the image. Lucked out with perfect weather.




Same photo without crop:

Photo from a rooftop at Lask Air Base, near Lodz, Poland

I watched it go total up in the whites. Perfectly clear.

I did find it interesting that as the moonlight got less prominent I could hear more small critters in the woods. I expect they had a break from the local owls.

Reminds me that I have to make my plans for solar eclipse in August of 2017.

I got plenty of photos when the eclipse was partial but ran into difficulties when it was total. Still a novice with the 70D I recently acquired, I seem to have pressed a wrong button or two. The cam stopped taking pics, then I couldn't get it to lock in on the moon, focus and shoot. Drove home after a few clouds blew in, half hour into the full eclipse. Got some more good shots of the partially eclipsed orb from my back yard. Will post a couple in a bit.

It will be hard to focus on a dim object. I focused my camera on the bright full moon, and then turned off auto-focus. Of course, these features are not always available on 'modern' cameras!

Mine turned out ok.

Before:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207506977702906&set=pcb.10207506980142967&type=3

During:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207506988663180&set=p.10207506988663180&type=3

Maybe a coincidence, but as totality came on, coyotes started howling in the distance.

Spectacular. Perfect conditions here in the Boston NW suburbs. I saw a few clouds, but none in my line-of-sight.

Watched from the start to half way though the ending portion of partial. (I went in when my lens fogged... ) Took 200 pics from the start to well past totality-I'll post soon.

Doug

Tom Rankin said:

It will be hard to focus on a dim object. I focused my camera on the bright full moon, and then turned off auto-focus. Of course, these features are not always available on 'modern' cameras!

Click to expand...

I could've done that, didn't think I'd need to, wished I had. Argh! Lots of nice pics though of the orb going into eclipse. I was at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, which was a neat place to watch it - several others came there, too, and the police let us stay, even though the park closes at 10. But had I been out in rural VT somewhere, which I thought to do, the brightness of the eclipsed moon would've been more pronounced and the camera might've caught it.

It was a fun and enjoyable learning experience. Every time I take out the camera, I'm working on different things. Here, ISO and exposure time were things I keyed on. Kid in a candy store.

It was pretty amazing in Acadia. The full moon was really bright. Once the eclipse was full, all the stars came out. I wish I had a better camera than my cell phone. I'd forgotten about the stars. They still shine brightly.

egilbe said:

It was pretty amazing in Acadia. The full moon was really bright. Once the eclipse was full, all the stars came out. I wish I had a better camera than my cell phone. I'd forgotten about the stars. They still shine brightly.

Click to expand...

Even in the outer reaches of New Haven the stars shone brightly during the full eclipse. It must have been awesome in Maine.