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Details:
These are belated photos from the recent total lunar eclipse where clouds made shambles of organized plans both to photograph it and to operate a small scope visually to observe 2 stellar occultations (one which was a double star) that took place during the total phase.
The eclipse in this geographical area ran from sunset to midnight (ignoring the penumbral stages), and it was a beautiful and pleasant night to be out observing it. Local residents, some with binoculars or telescopes, evidently felt so too; most stayed through totality, but by the end of partial eclipse we were alone.
ULC=upper left corner, etc.
Photo #1:
--- ULC, URC) 2 ends of a bracketed shot where the shorter exposure shows the Earth's shadow's edge better while the longer one shows a truer view of the twilight-lit sky as the Moon rose. Note the diagonal line of 3 equally spaced stars just east of (below) the Moon--the 2 closest* were the ones to be occulted. [from L to R: *HR 5762, mag 5.5; *HR 5756, dbl, mag 6.3 & 8.9; HR 5749, var, mag 6.2-6.6.]
--- LLC) I could've been cute and put a black box here since we saw nothing for most of totality--even the clouds were dark--but once or twice a feeble red glow penetrated the clouds.
--- LRC) Just before the end of totality a small gap appeared in the clouds and I got this image, so the eclipse wasn't an utter loss. Still, it was too hazy to gauge the eclipse's Danjon number (i.e. how dark the eclipse got, although my impressions were it was an average eclipse that was not especially dark), and the occultations were past with the 3 stars now west of (above) the Moon.
Photo #2:
--- ULC-LRC) Taken during the ending partial phase, it was surprisingly difficult to tell whether the bite from the Moon was due to Earth's shadow or drifting dark clouds.
--- center) The partial eclipse is over and the Full Moon reveals itself.
Photo #3:
--- Timelapse composite covering the extent of the (umbral) eclipse, one frame every 4 minutes. This photo clearly uses artistic license: it shows the Moon's movement during the stages of totality, sunset and night views, a rare clearing for stars to show (these ones are in Centaurus--Menkent is the bright star), and the moonlit clouds of post-eclipse. (Clouds were inky dark during totality, neither backlit by the eclipsed Full Moon nor lit from below by town lights since Kanab is a small dark-sky community in the middle of nowhere.)
Photo #4:
--- This photo shows the participants in tonight's drama: the Full Moon, the many clouds, the intrepid photographer, and his able assistant.
Astro data:
--- 8:22 moonrise
--- 8:28 sunset, and partial eclipse starts
--- 9:29 total eclipse starts
--- 10:12 mid-eclipse
--- 10:54 total eclipse ends
--- 11:56 partial eclipse ends
--- 12:55 penumbral eclipse ends
Photo data:
Panasonic FZ300 24x superzoom on iOptron SkyTracker Pro -- Moon closeups
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 12-35mm -- timelapse
Panasonic G7, Lumix 20mm -- documentary
#1: FZ300, @225mm EFL, (f/2.8, 1-10 seconds, ISO 400)
#2: FZ300, @600mm EFL, (f/2.8, 1/2-1/2000 seconds, ISO 400)
#3: GX8, @18mm FL, (f/2.8, 1/3-30 seconds, ISO 400) every 4 minutes
#4: G7, @20mm FL, (f/1.8, 1/2 second, ISO 800), lit by LED lantern
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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