Eclipse

[Shuggy]

I've just had a look at my pictures of the eclipse of the moon, which many of you will not have seen.
(Olympus SP-310 digital, tripod, night setting, time delay - should've used centrepoint exposure setting.)

The full moon was very bright (because it was reflecting straight back at us) and there was a long period of doubt before the "eating" by earth's shadow began for sure.

It was awe-inspiring to see so clearly the earth's shadow and the moon's rotundity. By the diffuse light through our atmosphere striking the moon, there was no sign of the craters, only the varying colour of the moon itself. And if you didn't know, it's red because the light has had all the blue sucked out of it to make the sky, though nobody has put it that way.

I didn't get any of mid-eclipse or coming out, because of cloud, and it was getting late here.

[Front-Ranger]

Terrific photos! Thank you for posting these--

[Wishes]

Wow! Incredible photos. Thanks so much for posting them!

I saw a moon eclipse years ago in the early 80. It was cool.

[Shuggy]

Thanks. I think BM is limiting the reproduced size. Try these.

[Kelda]

wow! brill pics Shuggy, and nice to see you btw!

[Aussie Chris]

Hi Shuggy.

I was wondering if I could ask a question that you might know the answer to, and hopefully it's not something that absolutely everyone knows and I'm the only daft fool in the world that doesn't...

What is a lunar eclipse, actually?  I mean, as opposed to a new moon?

[Ellemeno]

A lunar eclipse is when the earth gets in the way of the sun shining on the moon, and we actually see the shadow our planet casts on the moon.

A solar eclipse is when the moon gets between the sun and the earth, and we actually can see that the moon is in the way of seeing part of the sun.

[Shuggy]

A lunar eclipse is when the earth gets in the way of the sun shining on the moon, and we actually see the shadow our planet casts on the moon.

Yes, it doesn't happen every month because the moon's orbit around the earth is tilted compared to the earth's orbit around the sun, but they line up every few years.

A solar eclipse is when the moon gets between the sun and the earth, and we actually can see that the moon is in the way of seeing part of the sun.

Yes, the moon's shadow falls on us. The area of full shadow is much smaller than with a lunar eclipse, because

• the moon is smaller than the earth, and
• the moon is much smaller than the sun, so

a total solar eclipse is much rarer than a total lunar eclipse.

Also, everyone on the night side of the earth can see a lunar eclipse because it's on the moon. Only people in the full shadow of the moon on earth experience a total solar eclipse, but it's very impressive. The stars come out, animals go to sleep, and there are strange shadow patterns on the ground. When (or while) a solar eclipse is partial, there's a wonderful effect in dappled light, when every shadow forms tiny crescents.

[Aussie Chris]

Um, so what is a new moon then?  Isn't that also a shadow cast on the moon by the earth?  Why don't we call that an eclipse too?

[David In Indy]

Boy, those are great pics Suggy! I tried to take some pictures too, but I broke my tripod last spring and I had to hold my camera in my hand when I took them. And I am very close to the city, and the lights from downtown were washing out the intensity of the moon.

What settings did you use? I used ss=4 sec., ap= F2, spot metering, noise reduction, 8x zoom (analog), OEV -2, ISO 1000.

Nice pics Suggy!