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Lunar Eclipse 4/15/2014

These are some first photos from the April 15, 2014 Lunar Eclipse seen from Sanibel Island FL. 26Deg. 26’ 16.6”N, 81Deg. 47’ W.
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At mid eclipse it was possible to record stars in the background with the Moon in the Earth’s shadow. 200mm f/4, ISO 8000, 2 sec. exposure. It’s easier to see the stars if viewed at a larger magnification, click on 2X or 3X in right of photo.
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At mid eclipse it was possible to record stars in the background with the Moon in the Earth’s shadow. 200mm f/4, ISO 8000, 2 sec. exposure. It’s easier to see the stars if viewed at a larger magnification, click on 2X or 3X in right of photo.

  • There is a little over 100 pounds of gear on this cart that was used to setup for the eclipse. The large wheels are needed to get across the soft beach sand.
  • This shows the setup on the beach with the Tortuga Beach Club resort in the background. You can see some of the stars of Cassiopeia in the sky to the upper right.
  • As the eclipse came to an end there was enough light to see the photo gear on the beach with the Gulf to the left side.
  • There is a subtle blush cast to the edge of the shadow that can be seen in this photo. Base on color measurements this is a real phenomenon. This slight shift towards the blue end of the spectrum may come from Ozone in the upper atmosphere that is known to scatter the shorter wavelength light. This light doesn’t pass through much of the atmosphere and as a result isn’t filtered much. Light in the inner part of the shadow passes much lower through our atmosphere and is refracted into the shadow and much of the blue light is filtered out giving a reddish appearance.
  • At mid eclipse it was possible to record stars in the background with the Moon in the Earth’s shadow. 200mm f/4, ISO 8000, 2 sec. exposure. It’s easier to see the stars if viewed at a larger magnification, click on 2X or 3X in right of photo.
  • Just before mid-eclipse this photo was taken with 1100mm, f/7 AP refractor, ISO 3200, 0.5 sec. Around this time the wind was starting to pick up and harass the mount and optics. Notice you can still see a few stars in the background even at this image scale.
  • This composite image shows the limits of the Earth’s shadow. However, I admit to adjusting the image on the left to show a more circular Earth’s shadow. See question next image.
  • The Earth’s shadow is moving during the eclipse and has changed location during 2h 46m of time between the two photos shown here. Notice the curvature of the shadow in the second image (left) doesn’t line up with a disk that matches the first image (right). The two images have been accurately registered using the star Spica in the lower right. While there are several items moving during this time the major cause for the shadow to move is the fact that the Earth is traveling in an orbit around the sun.
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