Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Live Blogging the Lunar Eclipse



Megan and I are outside watching the eclipse! So far at 8:22, we have a bright full moon, cloudless sky, but no sign of the earth's shadow...yet.





8:48 We Have a Shadow! This is so cool. The last time I witnessed a lunar eclipse I was about 12 years old!



More shadow!



9:35 We are almost to the full red moon!



And I'm back inside at 10:19!

Here is my shot from 10:06- This may be just past peak! I need to run through my shots. I hope everyone enjoyed this live blogging experience. I'm watching from inside now as the the moon is slowly regaining its white coloration. I'm packing up the camera and I'm headed to bed.

Everyone, have a great night!

Tom

23 comments:

  1. It is freakin' cold outside...windchill of 6 degrees! That's even colder than Maine!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Solon Ohio 9:53pm about 98%. Yes it is my telescope of really cold

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am so glad you are doing this! It is cloudy here in Boulder, CO. Found your site through Google. thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. looking good in Livingston, Mont. - nice temp at 29F...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome sight -- bright coppery red, brilliant stars and Saturn off to the SE (I think). 15F here in the Great Lakes snow belt. Looks like maybe we got a bit more color -- does that reflect (pun) atmospheric conditions?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very nice Tom. I stepped out too while it was eclipsed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice shots.I got pictures too but not as good as yours.what camera are you using?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I live in San Jose, CA and while the lunar eclipse was intercepted by clouds and rain, luckily I'd shot my first lunar eclipse previously in August. The images were shot with my Canon 10D at 300mm, various exposure times... i was up all night! 6 hours and about 1000 photos. I've posted some of the best via the link.

    http://www.eloph.com/dev/events.asp

    Canon 10D, 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 1600, ~2 sec

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was in bed asleep. It was way too cold here (as you know) and I just wasn't up to it but you did a nice job and got the sequence as well as the color. Nice work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice pictures! I think we are of like minds...

    Cheers,

    Mungo

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi,
    Very nice photos. My wife and I had our two kids outside last night watching this amazing lunar event. You captured it well here. Thanks for sharing. -Mike.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I was hoping you would get these beautiful shots! We watched it too, between going to church, choir practice, but it was FANTASTIC! Even Grandpa went out and saw it. We had a really nice view through our new window in the new piano room. It was AWESOME, and so are your pictures. FABULOUS! Thanks.
    mom

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very nice. We were clouded out, unfortunately, but we managed to catch last year's eclipse, so it's all good.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Megan-

    It was really cold. Luckily I kept going back inside to warm up and post these images!

    Solon- Ahh Solon, I used to hang out at your pizza hut, Dunkin' Donuts, and Rockne's back in my teenage years when I was employed at Sea World!

    Swampdonkey- Thank You. I guess that is some sweet revenge for Ohio, Colorado being such a sunny place. I'm really sorry that it was cloudy! I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures.

    Bryan S. Excellent...

    Susan- Are you in the Ohio Great Lakes Snow belt?

    Beth Ellen, Thank you, I saw your post. My lens fogged as well I believe. Notice how clear my first shot was? All the other ones are much fuzzier.

    Francis- I used the Canon Digital Rebel XTI with a Sigma 70-300 DL Super set to about 200 mm focal length. I also used my Manfrotto Modo Maxi Tripod.

    Tom, very nice site and photos at your site. I'm curious, why did you choose such a high ISO setting? I kept mine at 200 and didn't have to go more than 3 seconds for a decent exposure at F8.

    Abe, thank you!

    Mungo- Wow, that moon looks exactly like the moon I saw. I think it is fairly amazing how millions of us were watching this same event from around North America and beyond.

    Mike- You are welcome!

    Mom- Thanks Mom! (Again, yes, this is my real mom. If she decides to ever comment on any one else's posts, she won't be there mom!)

    Thanks Lana,

    It has been a LONG time since I've seen one, and I really enjoyed capturing these images. I hear the next full lunar eclipse visible in North America will be in 2010. I'm hoping this one will be in the summer!

    Thanks everyone for stopping by and commenting!

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  15. How cool and I wish that I would have been home to have seen your live post! Very creative and maybe next time I will be lucky enough! Hmm, 3 more years till the next eclipse?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Tom, sorry it took a while since your visit to my blog, but here I am and I am very impressed with your lunar eclipse photos, they are beautiful. I got some myself but I will be probably posting this weekend as time permits. However, just visiting and saying hello, and thank you for your kind visit to my blog. Moving on to explore more what's here....Anna :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, I didn't know there was a lunar eclipse on! We saw one here just last year, it was amazing, but unfortunately I didn't have a single camera in sight when the eclipse was happening! :( Well, there's always next time...

    Cheers,

    David Webb: Photographer

    ReplyDelete
  18. That was really neat! It was much better than my view from my window. Thanks for braving the cold!
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. By the end of the eclipse, I could just barely see the moon outside my window. Unfortunately, my neighbor's house was blocking my view for most of the time. That is the reality of life in the city!

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks Anna!

    David- Luckily this eclipse was well publicized and I hope for clear skies all week. Here in Ohio, it is rare to have clear skies at any time during the winter, so this was a treat. We definitely got lucky.

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  21. Love your pics Tom, and I love the live commentary adds a little, great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm late to the party here, but great shots!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Bob-

    Thanks. I was uploading the pics as the eclipse happened. My blog got tons of hits off google during the eclipse looking for live pictures so my efforts of running back and forth really paid off! Man, that is a huge telescope that you are posed with!

    Thanks Adam- The eclipse was a really interesting event. I just wish my eclipse image was a sharp as the first image I took that evening!

    Tom

    ReplyDelete