Lunar Eclipse Tonight
 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...3-cropped.jpeg

For those who may not be aware, this is just a quick heads-up that we're going to have an eclipse tonight. The good news is that we'll be able to see the entire eclipse from the KC area and the forecast tonight is mostly clear.

The bad news is that its going to happen pretty late at night (CDT) from about 2 am to about 3:30 am, with the greatest eclipse happening at about 2:45 am. So, if for some reason you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night tonight, it might be worth looking out the window.

Sweet, going to try and see it.

Alarm set for 2a.m.

blood moon

Blood moon will be bad ass.

Anyone know where on the horizon the moon will be for this? Was thinking of going out and practicing with my new camera.

I looked it up, I think its gonna be high, to the southwest.

Cool, thanks!

Post a YouTube link tomorrow

I'm sleeping

It is cool though

These are always at such shitty times. They should know that most people are sleeping then.

If you've never seen on of these it's worth getting up to look at.

Hope to have video and pictures in the morning. One prediction shows a cloud bank right over me during the eclipse :(

Seconded.

Go to
Http://shadowandsubstance.com

Great animations. I use it it class.

Almost there. Pretty awesome.

Looks really cool. Almost full right now.

Wish I had a camera good enough to capture some decent pictures.

I can see it well here, although I don't have anything to photograph it with other than my phone.

Cool. I was surprised by how dark it was without as much moonlight even though I shouldn't have been. And...good night.

In case anyone is awake, that planet near the moon is Mars, and that really bright blue star right next to the moon is Spica.

Ahh cool

Here's what my crappy phone captured:


http://i.imgur.com/ROkLVLR.jpg

I couldn't get it on my camera at all, but it looked cool to the naked eye. First time I've seen one of these since I was a kid.

speaking of Spica, here's a fun fact: Spica is actually a binary system, but the two stars orbit each other too closely for any of our telescopes to split the pair.

... and the show's over. Its kinda surprising how quickly most of the red color goes away as soon as any part of the moon peeks out from the shadow.

If you missed the total lunar eclipse, the next one that is visible in the central time zone will be September 2015, and that will happen at a much more reasonable hour: roughly 10pm.

That was fun. First time playing with the new camera and a 300mm. Unfortunately I now need to upgrade Photoshop. :(

Anyway, see if this works. No editing, just crop. Kinda grainy.

http://i59.tinypic.com/i1ac74.png

http://i57.tinypic.com/21jdp1h.png

Couldn't get the greatest focus, but this is pretty good for me. Looking forward to Dave's pics.

http://i59.tinypic.com/28re71z.png

Getting Mars in was tough. Beautiful sight, but I couldn't really capture well :( ...

http://i57.tinypic.com/1pi1x0.jpg

This was a pretty good lunar eclipse, in that it was somewhat close to the center of earth's shadow but you can tell that it wasn't hitting the center of the shadow so some parts of the moon were always brighter and less-red. The next nearly-perfect eclipse where the moon really gets red is in 2018, but unfortunately that one wont be seen in North America. Not sure when the next perfect eclipse thats visible over North America will be.

edit: there will be a near-perfect eclipse where the middle of the moon almost hits dead center of the earth's shadow in Jun 2029, but you have to be on the edge of the east coast or south america to see it.

I got to see it clearly here in Phoenix (drove out into the desert a bit for better lighting) and it was spectacular. Mars was VERY vivid and Spica is something I have never seen before. All of this in the same frame with the most stars I have ever seen, which was amazing in itself, was mind blowing. For me anyway. Glad I got to see it.

Looked like Jupiter at one point. Tripped on that for a bit.

Yeah, had no idea how cool this would actually be. Stepped out from behind the camera and looked up and went "whoa". Actually seeing it with the naked eye was so much more impressive than any photo.

Just looked through the whole eclipse archive from now through 2100. There will not be a "near-perfect" lunar eclipse visible from the midwest in that entire time period. (this one is actually one of the best ones we will ever see!)

I guess if I want to see one, I'd have to plan on travelling for the June 2029 near-perfect eclipse.

edit: wait a second, never mind, we'll actually be able to see that one in 2029! (weather permitting) It will just be low in the horizon.

I hope to be around in 2029.

Nice pics guys. Wife and I got up and went outside. It was quite impressive.

I got about 1500 pics there are some fantastic ones. The clouds kinda helped even before the eclipse. Can't wait to get back and download them.

Very nice!!!

I was up and saw this.

Thanks!

Really looking forward to seeing yours. Was completely clear here, but way too much light pollution. Didn't think to apply for a permit as I didn't realize all the state/county/city parks around here closed an hour after sunset.

Those are some great pictures.

Thanks. Better than I'd expected.

I'll admit I sorta feel like I cheated. Used a tablet with live view to control the camera and minimize the spine contortions of bending down to look up. Saved me so much time and effort. I was able to try so many different configurations at the push of a button that I felt like I was brute forcing the pictures.

Low res and just got it out of camera but not too bad.

Second shot...

Looks like a painting.

Good work.

This is the best I could do with a 200mm kit lens in the middle of the city.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...mooncloud2.jpg

Hey not bad at all Silock!

Thanks, Dave.

Maybe when I have a 300mm in October, I'll get a better shot. Might help to not try and shoot it over my roof next to a hospital, too lol

I need to find a field out in the middle of nowhere.

Agreed. That one looks great.

Looks good! I also had location issues (who knew parks require overnight permits?!), but at least I was in the 'burbs instead of next to a hospital!

Thanks for the pics guys. Very cool!

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hfebKDu7bKo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Quick video timelapse of the eclipse...
Just kinda fun.