Pic of the Day

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

February 10, 2017

    This is a composite of 5 exposure of last nights penumbral lunar eclipse. The sky had a thin layer of clouds, but it was not possible to expose for the wide range of values of the clouds. Thus I made different exposures to capture the various values of glowing clouds from the moonshine. 

Note: Though I am from Alabama, the term moonshine here refers to the light of the moon, not the home grown elixir made from corn.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

February 10, 2017

(the above image is a composition of 5 different exposures combined in photoshop)

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4 lens

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

February 10, 2017

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4 lens with 1.4 teleconveter making an effective 750mm lens

Lunar Eclipse

 

 

October 8, 2014,  Lunar Eclipse (partial phase)

shot from the campus of Oakwood University.
This image was shot through a thin layer of clouds

     I was up early this morning to photograph the total lunar eclipse, but the weather was not very cooperative.   I arrived on the campus of Oakwood University, (where I teach) where I shot this image.  The weather was very cloudy at my house, but was supposed to be better further west.  When I arrived on campus the sky was much better. However, soon after taking this image, the sky worsened, and the remainder of the eclipse was obscured by clouds.    Perhaps I will have better luck in April, 2015

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm F4, 1/800 second f6.3;  Camera set to DX format

Upcoming Lunar Eclipse

    On October 8th, North America will be treated with the second lunar eclipse of the year.  This is the second eclipse of a tetrad (four total lunar eclipses in a series). The last two eclipses will be April 14th, and September 28th, (2 days before my birthday) 2015.  The first of the tetrad took place on April 15th, 2014.  It was cloudy here in North Alabama and I did not get to see that eclipse.  If the weather permits, I will see this one.  This animation shows how the Earth's shadow crosses the lunar disk during the October 8th eclipse. The animation is from wikipedia.  For more details go to:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2014_lunar_eclipse

     I hope to get lots of good photos of the eclipse.  I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for clear skys.

Eclipes phases for CDT

                                                     Penumbral begins            3:16am

                                                     Partial begins                  4:15am

                                                     Total begins                    5:25am

                                                     Greatest eclipse              5:55am

                                                     Toal ends                        6:24am

                                                     Partial ends                     7:34am

                                                     Penumbral ends               8:34am