21 February
2008 Total Lunar Eclipse
by Lorenzo Comolli
Tradate
(VA), Italy
45°42'44,4" N 8°54'26,1" E height 305m
Even if this eclipse was not visible from my home in perfect
conditions, such as the 3-4 March 2007 one,
the unexpected good weather
allowed to image many images. The eclipse was visible in the last part
of the night, low on the West horizon. The maximum totality was reached
at 3.26 UT with the Moon at about 30° heinght. Here are some
elaborations from the nearly 1000 total shots I've captured at 5 min
intervals.
Animation
AVI
animation of the ecliplse, from 0.06 UT to 4.26 UT, at 5 min
steps. (2 MB, xvid codec required)
The maximum of the eclipse is
when the Moon is darkest and show at best the red coloration. This
image, centered at 0.28 UT, is obtained from averaging of 35 images
(from a continuous shooting). Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope 20cm
reduced at f/6.3, Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 800, 35 x 2 s exposures.
The
main phases of the eclipse, aligned on the stars. The movement of the
Moon is from top-right toward bottom-left. The images was realizet at
2.26 UT (half entrance partiality), 3.01 UT (start of totality), 3.26
UT (maximum), 3.51 UT (end of totality), 4.26 UT (half exit
partiality). Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope 20cm reduced at f/6.3, Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 400 (part) and 800 (tot), exp times from 1/250 s to 4 s.
All
the visible phases of the eclipse, from starting penumbra to exiting
umbra. From 0.36 to 4.26 UT.
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope 20cm reduced at f/6.3, Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 400 (part) and 800 (tot), exp times from 1/1000 s to 4 s. The entrance and exit from the shadow
show severe contrasts, from the region illuminated by the Sun and the
shadowed one. This composition of 2.31 UT with HDR tecnique (High
Dynamic Range) show at the same time the red/orange tints of the shadow
and the grey illuminated regions. Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope 20cm
reduced at f/6.3, Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 400, exp times from 2 s to 1/250 s, at 1 stop steps.
The usual color of the Moon is grey, but in truth there are very subtle
colorations typical of the kind of rocks, in particular the blue tone
are due to titanium rich rocks, while the red one are poorer. The Moon
colors can be evidenced only with hi-dinamic images, such as this one
obtained from an average of 50 frames imaged with a continuous shot
centered at 0.09 UT, before the start of the main phases of the
eclipse. Elaboration with a lot of color saturation. Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope
20cm reduced at f/6.3, Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 400, 1/1000s exp time.
A medium field view show that the Moon was quite near Saturn (mag 0.6)
and Regulus (mag 1.4), respectively at 5° and 2°. The bright
point at the left of Saturn is the satellite Titan (mag 8.2), while on
the right the farther of the
two points is the satellite
Japetus (mag. 10.9). Shot at
3.21 UT with a Sigma 18-200 zoom lens, used at 162 mm f/6.3, Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 1600, 30 s exp time (with a 2 s additional shot for the
eclipsed Moon).
A wide field view with the Moon in Leon constellation, with Saturn and
Regulus. Shot at 3.36 UT. Sigma 18-200 zoom
lens, used at 18 mm f/6.3,
Canon
EOS 350D, ISO 800, 15 s exp time.
Eclipse trail of the
main phases, obtained with a single exposure. Fujica reflex camera with
28 mm f/22 objective, Kodak Elite 100 ISO film,
exp time of 2h50m, nearly centered on totality, from 2.00 UT to 4.50 UT.
The night was quite cold and very wet, a very
different behaviour respect to the lunar eclipse of nearly a year
before, when the fohn wind produced a warm night.
