October 28, 2004

• Millions in Americas Watch Lunar Eclipse

  
  

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Millions of people in the Americas stayed up on Wednesday to observe a total lunar eclipse that bathed the moon in a coppery red glow and gave scientists a chance to study the Earth’s atmosphere.  The eclipse was total from about 10:25 p.m. to 11:23 p.m. EDT and was safely visible without the need of telescopes or special glasses.
  The phenomenon was visible throughout most of North and South America, Europe, Africa and Antarctica, while many observers in Asia got only a partial view or none at all.
  A total eclipse occurs during a full moon, when the moon passes through part of the Earth’s shadow.
  The next full lunar eclipse will be in March 2007

  
  

  

  
  

  Ah, the foibles of trying to get a good picture!  Yesterday, the 27th of October, saw a beautiful day here in “Sunny Southern California” following the second major storm of the fall/winter season. *Normally* we are being hit with the warm Santa Ana winds in Ocotber, and the weather is dry, not wet. Last year, as was widely reported, we suffered the worst firestorms in history. This year, it is “unseasonably wet”. But yesterday afternoon, in Long Beach, where I work, the cloudscape was just beautiful. Because the five year old Eclipse convertible I drive leaks a bit during inclement weather, I didn’t bring my camera into work yesterday, expecting rain, as predicted, but it didn’t rain, and I missed taking pictures of some beautiful cloudscapes against a bright blue sky. The clouds were not as nicely arranged when I finally got home.   

  
  

  

  
  

  As I left work, I mentioned to my workmates that I certainly hoped the rain didn’t start falling again till after I got a chance to take some pictures of the “red moon” which occurs when the moon goes through an eclipse, as was scheduled last night. The weather didn’t disappoint, as is evidenced by these photos I shot outside my living room door last night.

  
  

  

  
  

  Although not “red” in SoCal (it was sort of a drab “grey”) I did get some nice shots. I don’t even have a telephoto, which would make the images 2X plus whatever zoom ratio I used at the time. These shots were only accomplished with the 120X digital zoom. Most are at 20to40x, before extreme pixelation ruins the images. From the top, the moon is mostly covered by the shadow of the Earth. Then the shadow starts passing to the right.

  
  

  

  
  

  The two photos above show some of the cloud cover. The shot immediately above is a really bad composite I made this morning before going in for work, to try to paste a more “landscaped” image of the moon into the “shiny disc” image which I get when I open up the shutter to get more light into the lens.

  
  

  

  
  

  These last images are of the moon after most of the eclipse’s shadow passed over. I turned down the amount of light to get the surface of the moon. This morning, in Lomita, where I live, the cloud cover was complete, and I couldn’t get any shots of the larger morning moon, and it began to rain steadily as I got in my car (which is also an “Eclipse” natch. ) I pondered taking the camera with me, but as it was raining, figured I wouldn’t. Then of course as I pull up into the parking lot at work, I see a beautiful “shot” of the full moon between some cloud cover. Now as you can see, the shots I get, even with clouds, are not that clear or that sharp, because I do not, as mentioned, have a telephoto lens. The farther I zoom, the more pixelated the image gets. But at least I am happy. Last night two unexpected things happened. In the world of sports, the Red Sox won the World Series, which is unprecedented. And in the world of astronomy, I got to take a few pictures of the moon under an eclipse, when the clouds finally broke. I spent about an hour or so snapping about 40 to 50 photos. The ones above are the best.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  • 8:15 am
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