Total Lunar Eclipse !

A total lunar eclipse was visible on January 20-21 over large parts of the Earth.  Here are five views taken from the Washington, DC area as the moon moved into Earth's shadow.  The last two images were made at about the time of full immersion into the shadow; the moon appeared a dull coppery red to the unaided eye at that time.

Because the date was only about 1 month after winter solstice, the moon was very near its maximum altitude at totality; also, the moon's orbit happened to be very close to its perigee (nearest approach to Earth) for this eclipse.

The equipment consisted of a hand-held Canon D80 digital SLR camera with a Canon EF 400mm lens (set to f/5.6).  The exposure times, ISO values and local times are given below.

Image 1    [1/4000s  ISO=500]    20Jan19 22:01:21 (local time) - partial eclipse begins at 22:34 (penumbral began at 21:37)
Image 2    [1/1000s  ISO=500]    20Jan19 23:13:00
Image 3    [1/250s  ISO=3200]    20Jan19 23:35:27
Image 4    [1/100s  ISO=12800]    20Jan19 23:58:33  - total eclipse began at 23:41
Image 5    [1/100s  ISO=16000]    21Jan19 00:01:35

     


     


More information about this eclipse can be found on Wikipedia.

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