Lunar eclipse : Thursday June 16th .5.23am Melbourne time

[crikey]

I think l got that time right. Just caught that info on the news.
In the west skies l believe as the moon is setting l assume.
Hoping some photographers might catch that if they set the alarm.
Clear skies but fog might be a problem or maybe make the pic extra interesting.
The moons looking glorious tonight in the crisp skies, some fog just laying on the ground atm
Brr! Glad l am not a photographer.
If i inadvertently wake up l 'll go for a look see.
They say the moon will look blood red re the volcanic ash.( due to Refraction of light) with fog for added effects
Have l convinced you to set the alarm.
I'll be tucked up under the covers. LOL

[Rivergirl]

Thanks Crikey. Been so busy forgot to post this. I'll be photographing the lunar eclipse in the morning. Not looking forward to the cold. When a photographer friend was down here two weeks ago we did 3 dawn shoots in a row and it was pretty icy.

The Full Moon is Thursday June 16. On the morning of the 16th there is a total lunar eclipse visible from all of Australia. This is the best Lunar eclipse since August 2007, however, it does occur in the early morning sky. The Moon enters the darkest part of the Earth's shadow (the Umbra) at 4:23 am on the east coast, 3:52 am for the central states and 2:23 am in Western Australia. Over the next hour you will see the shadow slowly creep over the Moons face until the Moon is covered by the shadow of the Earth (5:23 am eastern states,
4:52 am central states and 3:23 am WA). You should see the stars becoming more visible as the Moon darkens. The Moon will not be completely dark, but will be a deep red colour. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are perfectly safe to look at.

More information, hints on observation and links at http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... ne-16.html

[Didjman]

I will be up to photograph it. For others that will be, have a beanie or something over the lense to prevent condensation (when not shooting). That's apart from your own beanies, gloves, scarves etc (My Collingwood beanies will get a workout). Good luck.
Peter

[Australis(Shell3155)]

[daviescr]

Nice one Shell, lovely pic. Looking forward to seeing some of yours too Robyn

I tried to see it here in China, but just got a slight dimming - ah well!

If you go to Google, they have a pretty cool header for today you can play with

[Australis(Shell3155)]

Running out of time, more to be added at a later date.

https://picasaweb.google.com/shell3155/ ... --L5oGZqgE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Australis(Shell3155)]

[Australis(Shell3155)]

[Rivergirl]

Nice pics Shell Pity you didn't get to see it properly Chris. Here by the time the moon was in shadow light cloud started up so by the time it was coming out of the shadow it was too hard to photograph.

Well this is the first time I have photographed the solar eclipse. Had a lot of trouble with my tripod and my sight so see these are a bit blurry. No colour has been added at all. I am still trying to thaw out!

[Didjman]

Awesome pics there!!! Unfortunately my zoom is not powerful enough, so the pics arent brilliant. Dec10 is the next one at around 1145pm. Will use my telescope then as my zoom.
Shooting stars were captured in some of those pics!! My wife and I saw a couple also.
Peter

[Rivergirl]

Thanks Didjman. I took the moon photos at 77mm and the scene ones at 25mm. I was having trouble focusing so didn't want to zoom in too much. I had a 18-270mm Tamron lens on my Canon 50D

[Didjman]

No probs Rivergirl. Also there is a technique called "stacking" which improves astrophotography shots. Using a program called Registax(freeware), you can stack together (one on top of each other) pics shot in quick succession. This technique greatly improves the sharpness of the resulting pic. My stacked pics are heaps better than the individual originals. I will post a couple of before and after (stacking) pics shortly - when my son's server is back up.
Any queries re stacking, ask on here or PM me.

Peter

[Rivergirl]

That sounds great Didjman. I've never heard of that. Be interested to see your pics. I can google stacking and Registax and then yell if I have a question. Thanks

I'm going to buy a B+W 10 stop (3.0) ND filter ND-110 too which would really cut down any glare.

[Australis(Shell3155)]

I noticed today with my attempts at focusing that it is a bit tricky to get things spot on,
one thing was that with the 7D and the remote shutter was that if I didnt have the camera on live view, when the shutter opened and closed it shook the camera and I got some lovely double moon shots, but if it was in live view at the back of the camera it would open nice and smoothly with out the camera jumping, just wondering if anyone else has noticed similar..?
this was using the ef70-200l with the 2x extdr,

[Meso]

Nice work guys. The moon is definitely one of the trickier things to photograph.

[Rivergirl]

Thanks Meso. Michelle I didn't use live view but interesting point you have made. It uses more battery and I found my battery was getting very low. My second battery is stuffed. Butterscotch melted on it while it was in my bag in humid Vanuatu. Ever since I had my cataract op last year I have trouble looking at the picture after I take it. I need glasses to view the moon properly so I choose not to wear any glasses while I'm photographing. Switching back and forth between two types of glasses would drive me crazy.

[Petros]

What a fantastic lunar eclipse array RG! - thanks! A car pool mate got up at 4:30am here for a look but the moon was still full, when we left for work at 6:30am the fog was thick and held all the way to Loy Yang. So thanks for your effort, we got to see it after all!

[Rivergirl]

Happy to help Petros. I've since got a better version of the time lapse



Yep definitely worth getting up at 3.30am this morning. Sorry you ran into the fog. We were lucky up here in the hills to be above it. The next solar eclipse is on 10th December at midnight. A much better time

[Rivergirl]

Mmm the larger version wouldn't fit across the page so had to use the small version

[Didjman]

... The next solar eclipse is on 10th December at midnight. A much better time

Solar eclipse at night? Interesting We know what you meant lol
Peter