Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Total lunar eclipse over North America

Total lunar eclipse over North America

Brain&Force - 12-4-2014 at 10:43

This is the first one visible from the Americas since the winter solstice of 2011 (I also saw this one). Are you going to observe it?

I'm lucky - the forecast states I'll have ZERO cloud cover the night of the eclipse. I'll try to post photos when the eclipse occurs. It'll be the very first time I've done this, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The blue bar in my sig is a clear sky chart (you can click on it and search for one in your locality). Blue boxes mean better sky - the top is cloud cover, the bottom transparency. (Data is from the Canadian Meteorological Center.)

In the meantime, here's a photo of the moon I took a year ago, during the daytime. Quite ethereal if you ask me, but I wish it was better quality.

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/dutdP7i.jpg" title="From now on, I'm adding alt-text to my photos." width="800">

[Edited on 12.4.2014 by Brain&Force]

elementcollector1 - 12-4-2014 at 10:54

When precisely is the eclipse?

Brain&Force - 12-4-2014 at 11:11

Shamelessly ripped off from Wikipedia. Times are in UTC. PDT is UTC-7 and EDT is UTC-4 for reference.

P1 4:53:40 (moon enters penumbra)
U1 5:58:19 (moon enters umbra)
U2 7:06:46 (total eclipse begins)
Greatest 7:46:48
U3 8:24:34 (total eclipse ends)
U4 9:33:02 (moon leaves umbra)
P4 10:37:33 (moon leaves penumbra)

Coverage map:
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Visibility_Lunar_Eclipse_2014-04-15.png/540px-Visibility_Lunar_Eclipse_2014-04-15.png" title="If you live between lines U2 and U3, you will see the moon rise in eclipse. This is very rare and an excellent photo opportunity for eastern Australia and some Pacific islands.">

[Edited on 12.4.2014 by Brain&Force]

[Edited on 12.4.2014 by Brain&Force]

Brain&Force - 14-4-2014 at 18:34

Weather looks excellent for eclipse observation.

Will be posting photos of the eclipse ASAP.

Please report your observations.

Zyklon-A - 14-4-2014 at 18:42

I'll be watching it for sure! As will my whole family, about 2AM if I'm not mistaken.

DraconicAcid - 14-4-2014 at 19:04

I'm going to try, but I live in the cloudy part of the country, so I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

Brain&Force - 14-4-2014 at 19:06

Might want to go at 1 AM, Zyklon, to see the shadow transit.

violet sin - 14-4-2014 at 19:46

ahh man.... I checked the forecast for my home area and it was clear as a bell, but I forgot I'd be on the coast away at work.... viewing conditions much less promising

super bummed...

Zyklon-A - 14-4-2014 at 19:55

I'll be awake till two so sure, might as well.

violet sin - 14-4-2014 at 22:10

starting to see some shade

the clouds are coming and going. 15 min ago I couldn't see but the tiniest grey circle through 'em, and now its sittin in a big clear patch. hoping I will continue to have a view.

Brain&Force - 14-4-2014 at 22:38

Will fix later

[Edited on 15.4.2014 by Brain&Force]

IrC - 14-4-2014 at 23:55

Can you back off on one and get the red moon, Spica and Mars all at once? Just came back in freezing my ass off. Got to warm back up then go back out again.

Chemosynthesis - 14-4-2014 at 23:57

Nice pictures. You use an adapter to mount a camera to your telescope?

I ended up watching some with my naked eye, but used the NASA livestream by the window instead due to much better image quality and weather conditions.

violet sin - 15-4-2014 at 00:24

clouds just came back.. been out there watching in the cold since 10:30ish. saw two shooting stars in addition.
nice pictures Brain&Force, wish I had something other than a cell phone to use. If I wasn't working on the coast I'd be 20min away from Chico CA. they have a nice scope in upper park, I got to peep through a few times. roommate in college was a physics guy specializing in optics, and worked at the local telescope hobby shop.

HgDinis25 - 15-4-2014 at 10:40

I was in the Eclipse at MoonSet area but the clouds simply rendered it impossible to see. Didn't even bother to get my telescope.

DraconicAcid - 15-4-2014 at 10:58

I saw it! It was surprisingly non-cloudy...just a few wispy things in the general area.

Zyklon-A - 15-4-2014 at 11:49

I saw it too, it was perfectly clear that night! Funny that it happened on the Jewish Passover. Coincidence? Easily.
But four blood moons in two years? One on each Passover, and one on each Sukkoth (Jewish new year) for two years in a row?! That's one HUGE coincidence!
To quote:

Quote:

It was confirmed by NASA that we have had "blood-red moons" on the first day of Passover and the first day of Sukkoth on back-to-back years seven times since 1 A.D. Three of these occurrences were connected to 1492 (the year the Jews were expelled from Spain by Queen Isabella) , 1948 (statehood for Israel and the War of Independence), and 1967 (the Six-Day War) — some of the most significant days in Jewish history. According to NASA - Four 'blood-red' TOTAL lunar eclipses WILL fall again on Passover and Sukkoth in 2014 and 2015… the same back-to-back occurrences at the time of 1492, 1948 and 1967.

I'm not trying to start a conspiracy/religious flame-war, I'm just amazed by such a perfect coincidence.
http://www.pray4zion.org/TheComingBloodMoons.html

Brain&Force - 15-4-2014 at 12:13

When I woke up it was actually surprisingly cloudy! There was a lot of cirrus, but not enough to significantly diminish the view.

The photos were taken with the camera on the Galaxy S3 and a Celestron C8 made at least 20 years ago. Unfortunately I only got one good photo of the whole eclipsed moon; several of the rest of them were cut off at the bottom. IrC, I tried to get ahold of a good camera, but that was all I had.

What colors did you see? It wasn't blood red to me, it was more like caramel or dirt-colored. 2011's eclipse was quite a bit redder. There haven't been any major volcanic eruptions throwing dust into the air, so there isn't that light dispersion that makes the moon red.

Zyklonb, I think it has to do with how the calendars are constructed. Not too much of a coincidence.

Zyklon-A - 15-4-2014 at 12:19

Hmm, no it's not the calenders. Blood moons could not be predicted with much accuracy at the time they were written.

IrC - 15-4-2014 at 12:52

I'm with Z on this one (sorry Z but as a student of history I just cannot use that name in full - too much bad history behind it). The Jewish days for Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles are aligned with the sun, not the moon. It was dull red to me but I was freezing my ass off so it may have been just pre-passing out hypothermia induced hallucination.

Actually Mars being at it's closest in 6 years kept getting my attention, and of course the blue giant (Spica) helped to make it a cool looking sky. The three made a great combination.

Twospoons - 15-4-2014 at 21:08

I had nothing but cloud cover.

Still, i've seen some pretty good lunar eclipses in the past - and been able to show the kids too.

Brain&Force - 7-10-2014 at 19:45

Who's going to watch the upcoming eclipse? I'll be posting, if the weather is OK, sometime after 0300 Pacific Daylight Time.

It's visible from all of North America, but the west coast will get a better view.

[edit] seems I won't be able to see it. Too cloudy. Get good pics for me everyone!

[Edited on 8.10.2014 by Brain&Force]

violet sin - 8-10-2014 at 01:27

clear skies here, looking quite nice. if I get any pictures that show more than a blur, I'll pop them up later.

still really blurry, but this is my cell phone through one side of a pair of binoculars.

the main problem, was I couldn't get it to see the moon dimly enough to show detail

[Edited on 9-10-2014 by violet sin]

violet sin - 9-10-2014 at 02:19

a few pics I got, nothing too great just a small digi camera

last sliver of light before full.JPG - 118kB

stayed up till 6am.

[Edited on 9-10-2014 by violet sin]

gdflp - 27-9-2015 at 16:38

I'm surprised that no one said anything about the lunar eclipse tonight. Anyone else going to be watching? The first three in the tetrad I was unable to see due to clouds, but it's crystal clear tonight

j_sum1 - 27-9-2015 at 16:48

I get to miss out this time.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/september-lunar-eclipse-ma...

violet sin - 27-9-2015 at 17:17

I will be watching again, just hope the clouds will cooperate with me,.. fingers crossed.

cyanureeves - 27-9-2015 at 17:18

man it's a big moon too and right now a tiny cloud just covered the whole moon.

DistractionGrating - 27-9-2015 at 17:55

Timelapse I did of last October's Total Lunar Eclipse. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Y7gaMb1f4

cyanureeves - 27-9-2015 at 18:04

Quote: Originally posted by DistractionGrating

Timelapse I did of last October's Total Lunar Eclipse. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Y7gaMb1f4

the best i have ever seen. it looks almost fake with the stars moving.

j_sum1 - 27-9-2015 at 18:05

Quote: Originally posted by DistractionGrating

Timelapse I did of last October's Total Lunar Eclipse. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Y7gaMb1f4

Man that's a nice vid! Thanks for sharing that.

Texium - 27-9-2015 at 18:22

The clouds are certainly not cooperating here. I can kind of see it but the clouds make it very blurry.

Still have 25 minutes until totality though, hopefully something will change...

IrC - 27-9-2015 at 18:38

All dark now, came in to charge the notebook I'm using with my USB cam for my 4" reflector. I can take pics and video with it. If I could have found a reduction lens similar to a Barlow I could have got the whole moon at once. Too much magnification. Planned on using my telephoto lens with my Sony DSC F717 for those pics but after 2 days searching gave up looking. Somewhere in storage is a box with all that gear. Oh well next lifetime I guess. Got to get back out before moon starts coming back to life. It is so clear here it's just not fair to all those in the cloudy east of me.

elementcollector1 - 27-9-2015 at 18:50

Total cloud cover on my end. Drat!

gdflp - 27-9-2015 at 18:54

Only a couple clouds here, it's nearly entirely clear. I've gotten a whole bunch of photos, I'll post the better ones in a bit.

cyanureeves - 27-9-2015 at 19:46

taken 5 minutes ago 10:40 p.m. the red is gone.

Hawkguy - 27-9-2015 at 20:03

Light pollution and stuff here makes it an almost impermeable dome, could make out slight moon shape though

Texium - 27-9-2015 at 20:06

The clouds parted earlier just in time for totality. It was very nice. I sat outside for about an hour watching it.

violet sin - 27-9-2015 at 20:10

No clouds, but the forest doesn't help much. Kinda low in the sky when it was full covered. But I got out to a field just in time to see white come back to the edge... Almost missed it, took my son to see his grandparrents and got a call from lill brother. Not really mad I got poor pics, it's the experience I will remember. My son and I saw full cover, and though he may not remember it, I'll get to tell him all about it when he's 19 and it happens again.

IrC - 27-9-2015 at 20:50

Looked on ebay for a reduction lens in case I ever get a chance to get the whole moon in total eclipse and they were pricey at just under 300. I think it will be cheaper to find a telescope camera that does not stick me with 10mm. Something like a selectable 14 to 24 mm would be great.

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IrC - 27-9-2015 at 20:58

Three more. Have 108 pics but time consuming to look at them all to find the best ones. Tried to get the red but there is so much light pollution here the auto white balance lowers the camera sensitivity far too much. For a hundred bucks you would think the software and camera would have a manual setting.

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violet sin - 27-9-2015 at 21:16

nice pic's

wow

Praxichys - 28-9-2015 at 05:58

Here in Michigan the weather started out slightly overcast but cleared up by midnight for a spectacular finish. Unfortunately my telescope is basically a toy so my viewing experience was limited.

ZeroHour - 28-9-2015 at 13:42

One of the pictures I took this morning: