lunar eclipse 2011

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the feedback. I don’t like the thought of misinforming people. I presume you are referring to the two images of the eclipse sequence over the water? The goal of the image was to give people an idea of how the eclipse looked unfolding from my perspective. These images were formed by taking a longer exposure of the Moon at the end of the eclipse for the base image. I then done some calculations on the focal length of my telescope and resized images of the eclipsed Moon taken through it to place over the base image. The glow in the image is from the long exposure of the Moon, as this was over exposed, I layered a shorter Moon exposure over it so that Moon detail would be visible as it would be to the naked eye. The Sun doesn’t form any part of these images what so ever, it’s all the Moon and Moonlight but I do see now how it may be possible for the uniformed viewer to think the Sun is in the images. I should have taken the time to explain the images and processing more. Sorry about that.

Does this explanation help you see where I was coming from?

Anyway, thanks for the helpful feedback and all the best,

Brendan
www.DonegalSkies.com

Thanks for that Brendan

I tried to work out how there was an image of a ruddy moon with white annular periphery and illuminated foreground. Very confusing. I was reluctant to post thinking that there was a good chance that I was missing something - and I was missing something.

I appreciate your comments - I realise there's no intention to misinform and that creativity isn't always picked up by others as the creator had intended - as was the case here.

I'm still not fond of these two images - but am greatly appreciative of your contributions generally.

Best of luck.

Mark C.

Just back from the Algarve and here are a few shots of the moon taken from an apartment in Albufeira. Had no tripod and only 1 lens (more than 1 beer) with me so there not great, but it was fabulous to see.
All shots taken with a Nikon D7000 using an AF-S Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 GED lens.

Photo A
Taken at 21.41.37 . ISO 800, Auto white balance, 4 seconds @ f6.3. 105mm

[attachment:1]moon a.jpg[/attachment]

Photo B
Taken at 21.59.10 . ISO 400, Auto white balance 20, seconds @ f10. 62mm



Photo C
Taken at 22.07.36 . ISO 400, Auto white balance, 15 sec @ f10. 80mm



Photo D
Taken at 22.24.20 . ISO 400, Auto white balance, 4 sec @ f10. 80mm

Fabulous pics Brendan, I particularly love the middle one. Thanks for posting.

Returning to the discussion of issues that might lead to confusion, one other feature of the eclipse, which is very clear in Brendan's excellent timelapse sequence, is that the movement of the shadow over the face of the moon is counterintuitive. As the moon (apparently) moves to the 'right' over time, the shadow also moves to the right and exits from the LEADING edge of the moon, rather than from the trailing edge, which is what you would naively expect given that the moon is moving through the earth's shadow. Do you see what i am try to say? I have to admit that my first reaction to some of the shots was they must have been taken through a telescope in such a way that left and right were reversed. Of course, a little thought suggests the real explanation, which is that the actual motion of the moon is from right to left, and the apparent motion in the opposite direction is due to the rotation of the earth. (I hope these ramblings make some sense.) Mike