The weather has been unseasonably wet and windy of late, so I decided to take advantage of a break in the clouds and take a few photos of the beautiful (almost) full moon on Christmas Eve. Imagine my surprise when I went to edit them and discovered that one of the images had been photo-bombed by Santa! Merry Christmas one and all!
It has been all over the news for the past day or so, but for those that missed it this morning was a rare opportunity to see a Super Blood Moon. Whilst lunar eclipses are fairly common, the last total eclipse observed in the UK was in 2008 and the next will be in 2019. However, what made this one particularly impressive was the fact it coincided with a Super Moon - the moon being at its minimum distance (perigee) to Earth, which means it appears 14% bigger and brighter.
My image of the Super Blood Moon
The name Blood Moon comes from the rust coloured appearance of the moon during totality, due to the small amount of light hitting the moons surface being filtered by the extremities of the earths atmosphere, removing the blue wavelengths and leaving a red coloured shadow on the moons surface.
Although totality was at 03:11 BST in the UK, the event started at 02:00, so it was an early start to make sure the telescope and camera were set up in time. I used the QHY8L CCD camera, attached to my Altair Wave 115ED refractor to ensure I had a good shot of the entire Moon's surface. I started with exposures of just 0.001 seconds, but after totality I had to increase this to 25 seconds to capture the full detail of the surface. I took 76 images to begin with, at 30 second intervals, which I processed using Time Lapse Assembler to create a short time lapse as the eclipse approached totality. I then switched to single shots to get some detailed still images.
It might have been an early start, but it was an incredible sight and well worth the lack of sleep. If you missed it, don't worry - there will be another opportunity in 2033!
I missed out on the last opportunity to witness a solar eclipse in the UK, so I have been awaiting today's 98% partial eclipse with much anticipation. I had planned ahead and purchased my solar eclipse glasses well in advance, to avoid disappointment, so it was just typical that the British skies were overcast this morning. However, I was not going to give up so easily and so after a quick check of local weather forecasts, I jumped in the car with my family and we headed about 20 miles north of where we live in hope of clearer skies. It would seem luck was obviously with us today, because just before the peak of the eclipse at 09:25, the clouds started to break up and we caught a wonderful glimpse of the sun through a gap - a crescent slither of light in the sky. It was possible to get a couple of photographs between the clouds, but the heavy overcast sky somewhat reduced the overall effect of the eclipse - the sky did not darken as much as I had expected, for instance. However, these events don't happen very often in the UK, so I was pleased I was able to take my family to witness it live on this occasion.
The summer is great - I love the warm weather and long evenings, but they are no fun for an astrophotographer as it never really gets dark enough. So I am glad that after a break of a couple of months, I am finally able to get out in the garden imaging again.
Last night I set up early in anticipation of the full moon, which also happened to be a Blue Moon. These are relatively rare - hence the expression 'once in a blue moon'. The term Blue Moon is more often used to describe the second full moon in a calendar month, however, traditionally the term refers to the third full moon in a season that contains four full moons - hence why last night was a Blue Moon.
The August 'Blue Moon', taken 20 Aug 2013
This photo was taken using my astro-modded Canon EOS 1000D, attached to my Sky-Watcher Explorer 190MN Pro. The image was captured on my MacBook Pro using Craig Starks' Nebulosity 3and processed using Adobe Lightroom 5.
