Gone are my days of staying up late. While waiting for the eclipse to start, I fell asleep on the couch and missed the totality, but I at least woke up in time to capture its final phase.
lunar eclipse
Lunar eclipse photos.
Earlier today there was a spectacular total eclipse of the moon that was easily visible here in West Palm Beach. Following are the photos I took of the eclipse as it unfolded.
To take these photos, I mounted my Canon Powershot camera on a tripod and set the zoom as far as it could go. I used some very slow shutter speeds to photograph the moon, starting with 1/200 of a second while the moon was still bright and switching to a slower speed of 5 seconds during the total eclipse.
1:42 a.m.
1:56 a.m.
2:00 a.m.
2:12 a.m.
2:30 a.m.
2:33 a.m.
2:38 a.m.
2:44 a.m.
Total eclipse reached at approximately 2:45 a.m.
3:34 a.m..
4:04 a.m. The moonlight is beginning to return.
What an awesome way to observe the winter solstice.
Lunar eclipse photos.
Here are some photos I took of the lunar eclipse that took place last night. I mounted my digital camera on a tripod and used its zoom function to get some extreme closeups of the Moon. As a result, the resolution of these photos got compromised.
This first photo shows the Moon as the eclipse began. There was a beautiful halo around the Moon that I tried to capture but the halo was rather dim. I couldn’t believe how fast the eclipse was unfolding.
And this the Moon during the eclipse. I was awestruck by its dark, amber color. I have never seen the Moon look like this.
Less than 2 hours later, the eclipse was over. Even as I type this I’m still in awe over what I saw last night. That was without question the most spectacular eclipse I have ever seen with these two eyes.
