September 27 "Supermoon" Total Lunar Eclipse a Challenging Event to View

Beautiful in its Own Way - Full Moon Peeking through Heavy Clouds - 8:21 PM EDT

The much-anticipated total lunar eclipse of September 27, 2015 was a challenge for me, a big disappointment for many others. The night started out with a thick layer of clouds floating overhead, a few breaks (known as “sucker holes) visible here and there. I was pretty sure I would see nothing. In fact, conditions in Hiram, where I had planned a public eclipse viewing event, were expected to be so poor I had to cancel the event (it apparently rained there during the midpoint of the eclipse).




"Supermoon" Emerging from Pre-Eclipse Clouds for a Moment - 8:56 PM EDT

Enough openings appeared, however, that I got my tripod and cameras ready just in case. I’m glad I did! When it did appear, the Moon was slightly larger and somewhat brighter than it might otherwise have been: the eclipse took place during a perigee Full Moon, a so-called "supermoon." A perigee total lunar eclipse is a fairly rare event and isn't to be seen again until the year 2033.





Totality at 10:43 PM EDT: Within minutes of moment of greatest eclipse (10:47)!

By standing on my balcony, watching, camera pointing to where the Moon was behind the clouds, I was ready for the brief appearances it would make. The passing breaks in cloud cover often allowed only a few seconds of relative clarity for photography. I was able to see most stages of the eclipse and capture some reasonably good images, considering the conditions ... there never was a time when I had truly clear sky!

Totality Ending - Eclipsed Moon at 11:20 PM EDT - Dot(s) to the right are stars of constellation Pisces.

The hours of watching seemed to pass quickly and before I knew it, the event was ending. We are privileged to have the opportunity to see only a few total lunar eclipses in our lifetime so it’s best to make the most of each one!

A fine lunar eclipse

After a day or two of nail-biting, monitoring forecasts of sky conditions, the Clear Sky Clock tipped the scales for me... Wednesday night's sky would be clear and we would be able to see the Feb. 20 total lunar eclipse.

I packed up only one extra eyepiece --the great antique scope has a wonderful low-power ocular that presents the entire lunar disk-- and bundled myself up. It was a c-o-l-d night!

As the eclipse was getting underway a freshly-cleared sky began to cloud up. A thin layer of cloudiness obscured all detail from the Moon just as Earth's shadow was taking a good chunk out. And a little snow fell through the dome slit! Gad! Just as I was beginning to give up hope, however, the sky quickly cleared and we had good seeing for the rest of the night!

The view of the Moon through the 9-inch refractor was typically spectacular. Even the full Moon looks great through that scope with its fist-sized eyepiece. During the partial phase of the eclipse, however, there was a time when the lunar limb was relatively bright, the central portion of the disk was bluish, and the dark shadowed region took on a reddish hue. Quite beautiful. During totality the Moon took on a pale coppery color; it was not a particularly colorful eclipse. Impressive and beautiful, nonetheless. Saturn, near opposition, was also near the eclipsed Moon (the bright "star" to the left of the shining Moon in the photo above) so during the hour-long totality I swung the telescope over to give visitors a look at the ringed world. Even at low power --Saturn quite small in the field of view-- visitors were excited to see it. At about 100X the excitement grew. Seeing was only a little better than fair for while we could make out the gap between the inner rings and the planetary body, no shadow could be seen and no detail within the ring plane. Two or three moons were visible. I'm hoping for better conditions for Saturday's Saturn Observation Night. As totality was ending I swung the scope back to the Moon to watch bright light begin its progress across the disk.

In all more than 44 visitors came into the observatory -- there were probably more but people were coming in to look through the telescope and going out to enjoy the sky with their own eyes ... they were getting into the event!

The last visitors left at around 11 PM and I was finally free to try some photos. A little too late, however, to get the shot I wanted... looking at the Moon along the telescope and through the dome. The Moon had already brightened to the point that I couldn't balance the exposure. It's a nice photo anyway and I'll use it for some things, it's just not the picture I had imagined. It was getting late and my feet and hands were getting cold --it was 18 degrees F. in the dome-- so I closed up and went home.

A fine lunar eclipse.

Total lunar eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse! This was the first lunar eclipse that I've observed that ended at totality with the sun rising which means I only saw the first half of "the show." Never mind, it was an excellent experience! It was well worth my getting up 90 minutes early! I watched the Moon move from the shade of Earth's outer shadow or penumbra and into the deep inner cone of darkness, the umbra. Within the space of a bit more than an hour Luna changed from a full, golden disk to a dull coppery remnant in the western sky. Sunrise erased the last traces of the spectacle from sight a little after 6:00 AM Tuesday, August 28.

At about 4:45 AM, I stepped out on to our western-facing porch and carried my camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT, set at ISO 400), already mounted to its tripod, down to the walk. From there I shot my first photos of the mostly-bright Moon; it was fully inside the Earth's penumbra at that hour and beginning to enter the umbra. I worked out the best exposure settings and tested the focus. Next I moved to the court at the end of our driveway apron, set up the tripod there, shot a few more images. From there I swung the camera around and got a few images of Orion rising above the trees... long time, old friend! Those shots, along with one of the Pleiades and neighboring Hyades star cluster, came out surprisingly well.



Progressively, stopping here and there, I began working my way up the hill stopping on the pavement several times to look up and maybe make another image or three -- no cars at all, thank goodness, just some guy on a bicycle who seemed surprised to see me. Then I took a non-stop hike to a place just across from the town square.



On a knoll beside a nursing home, overlooking the police station and the Columbia River valley beyond, I set up to stay til the end. Staff on break from the nursing home called across in the morning darkness, "is there a lunar eclipse?" "Yep," I yelled back, "and it's nearly in totality now!" "Wow, I thought it was," they answered after taking a peek, "but I didn't hear about it on the news." I tried different exposures, zoomed in and out, refined focus. In all, about 70 digital shots. None of the lunar images is truly sharp but several are "keepers."

Nonetheless, these are my best lunar eclipse images yet and certainly reflective of the visual experience. Next lunar eclipse is in February of 2008. I hope it's clear because that one should be a very good show for us Mid-Western North Americans! Next time, the camera rides a telescope!