Sunday, March 04, 2007

...and the moon shall turn to blood...

Well, not quite blood-red, but an impressive copper colour at least.

The cloud broke before the eclipse was complete but there was little light left and still some thin cloud, so I didn't get a great shot as the eclipse happened. At least it didn't rain.


Clouds then covered most of the actual eclipse, but I was lucky--they cleared again as the moon emerged. For a while anyway - enough time for a good few photos. Here's one of the better ones:

The clouds came back to spoil my fun before it was all over. Here's the last worthwhile picture I took, and it's not a particularly good one.

It was an impressive display. The pictures don't do it justice. I hope, next time, it happens in the summer. It's still very, very cold here. Anyway, playtime's over. Back to work.

9 comments:

Dr. Brainiac said...

Thank you for posting the lovely pictures. I missed the whole thing despite crystal clear skies here in Texas. Silly dissertation thingy...I miss all the fun.

astrologymemphis.blogspot.com said...

I forgot all about it. Can you believe that? Missed the whole thing. Great pics. At least I get to see it this way. Thank you for sharing!

Romulus Crowe said...

Sorry to hear you missed it, but there are other chances coming up soon.

This site gives the dates and times of total and partial lunar eclipses up to 2010. Scroll down to the table and click the date you’re interested in.

http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html

I found it easier to right-click on the page that comes up, use ‘save picture as’ to save a copy to disk, then I can enlarge it to the point where it’s easy to read. Depends on the resolution of your monitor and whether you’ve worn out your eyes.

There’s another total eclipse on August 28th this year. The UK won’t see it at all, but the USA will see some of it at moonset (in the morning). The best view will be from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Next one is Feb 21st 2008. That one’s centred on the Atlantic, and it’ll be visible from the UK and most of the US. With February weather, it’ll take some luck to see it here.

After that, the next total eclipse is Dec 21, 2010, so try to catch the August or February ones. I won’t be too confident about getting a clear sky here in December.

Anonymous said...

"The best view will be from the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

So shall I expect a late August visit from you?

Scary Monster said...

Those pictures look pretty good to me. Never tried to take any shots of celestial bodies. will have to check out that site and then chater a boat for the next one.

Romulus Crowe said...

Jude, I hope you have lots of room. Yours might be one of the few bits of land where the August eclipse is visible. Visiting in August might kill me though. Does it get above 80F in summer?

Scary, you need a camera with a good optical zoom or telephoto lens (digital zoom is well worth avoiding) and a really good, steady tripod. Might be extra-difficult on a boat!

Anonymous said...

It gets above 80F ALL year! Not much variation though - low to mid 80s in winter and mid to high in summer. Rare deviations in either direction. Cool breezes most of the time.
Cold recently because it's gone below 80 ( like all the way down to 76F!!!) and sent me into sweats for a couple of days! Wind and rain added to the the chill effect!

Romulus Crowe said...

Currently it's an unseasonably warm 10C (50F) here. I have shed the pullover. Another few degrees and I'll be in short sleeves.

At temperatures above 80F I'd have to shave my head and have vents fitted in my skin. So if I ever visit, I'd have to travel slowly enough to acclimatise to the temperatures there. Unless you have a good supply of ice (preferably with some Pernod or Absinthe to dilute it).

Anonymous said...

Don't discount the power of the balmy breezes. They make 80s much here more comfortable than in many places.
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and A/C which I never use but is common here.

Then too - you might be cute with a shaved head and skin vents!?!?!

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