Lunar Eclipse (May 15, 2022) — Near Totality

The eclipsed Full Moon rising over Reesor Lake in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Alberta, on May 15, 2022. This was just before totality, with just a thin sliver of the Moon stlll illuminated by direct sunlight. From my location and longitude, the Moon rose in the late stages of the initial partial eclipse, but with the portion of the Moon's disk in the umbra glowing a dim red and just visible in the blue twilight sky. Shortly after this image, as totality began with the Moon entirely in the umbra, the Moon had moved up into the increasing clouds at top that were moving eastward, and obscured the Moon for the rest of totality. But for a while at moonrise the band of sky with the Moon low in the southeast was clear. It was a narrow band of photo opportunity, but at the right time for foreground lighting in the still bright twilight. This was from the west end of Reesor Lake near the Saskatchewan border. The lake is home in spring and summer to lots of white American pelicans seen dotting the lake here. It is named for the Reesor family who now in their fifth generation still ranch just up the road from here north of the Park. This is a single image with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 124mm and f/4 and 0.3 seconds at ISO 200 with the red-sensitive Canon Ra camera. Location planning done with the aid of The Photographer's Ephemeris and TPE3D. However, this was a favourite spot that I had shot from several times before, but never a lunar eclipse! I chased here to avoid the worst of the clouds incoming from the west. Cloud cover matched predictions precisely this night.

Lunar Eclipse (May 15, 2022) — Deep Partial

The eclipsed Full Moon rising over Reesor Lake in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Alberta, on May 15, 2022. This was in the last stages of the partial eclipse, with a portion of the Moon's disk stlll illuminated by direct sunlight, but the rest in the red umbral shadow. From my location and longitude, the Moon rose in the late stages of the initial partial eclipse, but with the portion of the Moon's disk in the umbra glowing a dim red and just visible in the blue twilight sky. Later, as totality began with the Moon entirely in the umbra, the Moon had moved up into the increasing clouds at top that were moving eastward, and obscured the Moon for the rest of totality. But for a while at moonrise the band of sky with the Moon low in the southeast was clear. It was a narrow band of photo opportunity, but at the right time for foreground lighting in the still bright twilight. This was from the west end of Reesor Lake near the Saskatchewan border. The lake is home in spring and summer to lots of white American pelicans seen dotting the lake here. It is named for the Reesor family who now in their fifth generation still ranch just up the road from here north of the Park. This is a single image with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 135mm and f/4 and 0.6 seconds at ISO 100 with the red-sensitive Canon Ra camera. Location planning done with the aid of The Photographer's Ephemeris and TPE3D. However, this was a favourite spot that I had shot from several times before, but never a lunar eclipse! I chased here to avoid the worst of the clouds incoming from the west. Cloud cover matched predictions precisely this night.

Lunar Eclipse Panorama at Reesor Lake

A panorama of the eclipsed Full Moon rising over Reesor Lake in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Alberta, on May 15, 2022. This was the much-publicized "Super Flower Blood Moon" eclipse. From my location and longitude, the Moon rose in the late stages of the initial partial eclipse shown here, but with the portion of the Moon's disk in the umbra glowing a dim red and just visible in the blue twilight sky. Shortly after this, as totality began with the Moon entirely in the umbra, the Moon had moved up into the increasing clouds at top that were moving eastward, and obscured the Moon for the rest of totality. But for a while at moonrise the band of sky with the Moon low in the southeast was clear. It was a narrow band of photo opportunity, but at the right time for foreground lighting in the still bright twilight. This was from the west end of Reesor Lake near the Saskatchewan border. The lake is home in spring and summer to lots of white American pelicans seen dotting the lake here. It is named for the Reesor family who now in their fifth generation still ranch just up the road from here north of the Park. This is a stitch of three segments with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 86mm and f/5 and 0.8 seconds at ISO 100 with the red-sensitive Canon Ra camera. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw with most processing in ACR with sky and ground masks. Location planning done with the aid of The Photographer's Ephemeris and TPE3D. However, this was a favourite spot that I had shot from several times before, but never a lunar eclipse! I chased here to avoid the worst of the clouds incoming from the west. Cloud cover matched predictions precisely this night.

Lunar Eclipse (May 15, 2022) — Rising Partial

The eclipsed Full Moon rising over Reesor Lake in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Alberta, on May 15, 2022. This was in the last stages of the partial eclipse, with a portion of the Moon's disk stlll illuminated by direct sunlight, but the rest in the red umbral shadow. From my location and longitude, the Moon rose in the late stages of the initial partial eclipse, but with the portion of the Moon's disk in the umbra glowing a dim red and just visible in the blue twilight sky. Later, as totality began with the Moon entirely in the umbra, the Moon had moved up into the increasing clouds at top that were moving eastward, and obscured the Moon for the rest of totality. But for a while at moonrise the band of sky with the Moon low in the southeast was clear. It was a narrow band of photo opportunity, but at the right time for foreground lighting in the still bright twilight. This was from the west end of Reesor Lake near the Saskatchewan border. The lake is home in spring and summer to lots of white American pelicans seen dotting the lake here. It is named for the Reesor family who now in their fifth generation still ranch just up the road from here north of the Park. This is a single image with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 141mm and f/5 and 0.6 seconds at ISO 100 with the red-sensitive Canon Ra camera. Location planning done with the aid of The Photographer's Ephemeris and TPE3D. However, this was a favourite spot that I had shot from several times before, but never a lunar eclipse! I chased here to avoid the worst of the clouds incoming from the west. Cloud cover matched predictions precisely this night.

Selfie with Lunar Eclipse (Nov. 19, 2021)

A selfie of the successful eclipse hunter having bagged his game, on the morning of November 19, 2021, having chased into clear skies to get the 97% partial lunar eclipse of Nov. 18/19, 2021 from Alberta. I drove 90 minutes north from home to near the town of Rowley, Alberta, to escape the clouds looming on the southern horizon. I shot this at 2:40 am MST with the Moon emerging from the umbral shadow, so quite bright and overexposed here below the Pleiades in Taurus, and to the west of the Milky Way. I had two cameras on trackers set up to shoot wide-field shots of the eclipsed Moon. This is a single 25-second exposure at f/2.5 with the Rokinon SP 14mm lens on the Canon 6D at ISO 3200. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the subject.

Eclipsed Moon Near the Winter Milky Way (Nov 19, 2021)

The partial eclipse of the Moon of November 19, 2021, with the Moon below the Pleiades star cluster, M45, and near the Hyades cluster and Aldebaran at right, all in Taurus, the hallmark setting of this eclipse, which at maximum (about 30 minutes before this sequence was taken at 2:30 am MST) was 97% partial, so not quite total. Orion and the winter Milky Way are at left. A large portion of the Moon was outside the umbra and bright when this sequence was shot at the end of my shoot for this eclipse. The long exposures inevitably add the glow around the Moon, from the bright portion of its disk still in full sunlight and from some light haze in the sky, which added the sky gradients and star glows. But this is an authentic scene, not a Moon pasted onto a sky background taken on another night to simulate the scene. Taken from a site near Rowley, Alberta after a chase north to get out from under clouds and haze into clearer skies to allow exposures like this to record the starfield. This is a stack of 2 x 30-second exposures at ISO 3200 for the base sky, blended with 15s, 4s, 1s, and 0.25s exposures at ISO 400, all with the Canon EOS R6 camera and Canon RF28-70mm lens at 28mm and f/2.8 and on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Images blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Panel Pro/LumiFlow, but with manual manipulation to smooth the blend.

Eclipsed Moon Below the Pleiades (Nov 19, 2021)

The partial eclipse of the Moon of November 19, 2021, with the Moon below the Pleiades star cluster, M45, in Taurus, the hallmark feature of this eclipse which at maximum (about 20 minutes before this sequence was taken) was 97% partial, so not quite total. The southern limb of the Moon remained bright and outside the umbra, making this a very challenging scene to capture, to bring out the Pleiades and its nebulosity without blowing out the Moon too much. The long exposures inevitably add the glow around the Moon, from the bright portion of its disk still in full sunlight. But this is an authentic scene, not a Moon pasted onto a sky background taken on another night to simulate the scene. Taken from a site near Rowley, Alberta after a chase north to get out from under clouds and haze into clearer skies to allow exposures like this to record the starfield. This is a stack of 2 x 30-second exposures at ISO 1600 for the base sky, blended with 10s, 4s, 1s, and 0.3s exposures at ISO 800, all with the Canon EOS Ra camera on the William Optics RedCat astrograph at f/4.9. and on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer tracker at the sidereal rate. Images blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Panel Pro/LumiFlow, but with lots of manual manipulation to smooth the blend.

Eclipsed Moon With Orion (Nov 19, 2021)

The partial eclipse of the Moon of November 19, 2021, with the Moon below the Pleiades star cluster, M45, and near the Hyades cluster and Aldebaran at right, all in Taurus, the hallmark setting of this eclipse, which at maximum (about 20 minutes before this sequence was taken at 2:22 am MST) was 97% partial, so not quite total. Orion is at left. A large portion of the Moon was outside the umbra and bright when this sequence was shot. The long exposures inevitably add the glow around the Moon, from the bright portion of its disk still in full sunlight and from some light haze in the sky, which added the sky gradients and star glows. But this is an authentic scene, not a Moon pasted onto a sky background taken on another night to simulate the scene. Taken from a site near Rowley, Alberta after a chase north to get out from under clouds and haze into clearer skies to allow exposures like this to record the starfield. This is a stack of 2 x 30-second exposures at ISO 1600 for the base sky, blended with 15s, 5s, 1.6s, and 0.5s exposures at ISO 800, all with the Canon EOS R6 camera and Canon RF28-70mm lens at 33mm and f/2.8 and on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Images blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Panel Pro/LumiFlow, but with manual manipulation to smooth the blend.

Eclipsed Moon in Taurus (Nov 19, 2021)

The partial eclipse of the Moon of November 19, 2021, with the Moon below the Pleiades star cluster, M45, and near the Hyades cluster and Aldebaran at left, all in Taurus, the hallmark setting of this eclipse, which at maximum (about 15 minutes before this sequence was taken) was 97% partial, so not quite total. The southern limb of the Moon remained bright and outside the umbra, making this a very challenging scene to capture, to bring out the star fields without blowing out the Moon too much. The long exposures inevitably add the glow around the Moon, from the bright portion of its disk still in full sunlight and from some light haze in the sky. But this is an authentic scene, not a Moon pasted onto a sky background taken on another night to simulate the scene. Taken from a site near Rowley, Alberta after a chase north to get out from under clouds and haze into clearer skies to allow exposures like this to record the starfield. This is a stack of 2 x 30-second exposures at ISO 1600 for the base sky, blended with 10s, 4s, 1s, and 0.3s exposures at ISO 800, all with the Canon EOS R6 camera and Canon RF28-70mm lens at 70mm and f/2.8 and on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Images blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Panel Pro/LumiFlow, but with manual manipulation to smooth the blend.

Red Moon Below the Blue Pleiades (Nov 19, 2021)

The deep partial eclipse of the Moon of November 19, 2021, with the reddened Moon below the Pleiades star cluster, M45, in Taurus, the hallmark feature of this eclipse which at maximum at 2:03 am MST (about 8 minutes after this sequence was taken at 1:55 am MST) was 97% partial, so not quite total. The southern limb of the Moon remained bright and outside the umbra, making this a very challenging scene to capture and process, to bring out the Pleiades and its nebulosity without blowing out the Moon too much and suppressing the bright glow around the Moon from the light haze in the sky. However, inevitably, the long exposures add some glow around the Moon, from the bright portion of its disk still in full sunlight. But this is an authentic scene, not a Moon pasted onto a sky background taken on another night to simulate the scene. Taken from a site near Rowley, Alberta after a chase north to get out from under clouds and haze into clearer skies to allow exposures like this to record the starfield. This is a stack of 2 x 30-second exposures at ISO 3200 for the base sky, blended with 30s, 8s, 2s, and 0.6s exposures at ISO 800, all with the Canon EOS R6 camera on the William Optics RedCat astrograph at f/4.9, and on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer tracker at the sidereal rate. Images blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Panel Pro/LumiFlow, but with lots of manual manipulation and gradient masks to adjustment layers to smooth the blend.

Selfie Observing a Lunar Eclipse (Nov. 19, 2021)

A selfie of the successful eclipse hunter observing the eclipse of the Moon, on the morning of November 19, 2021, having chased into clear skies to get the 97% partial lunar eclipse of Nov. 18/19, 2021 from Alberta. I drove 90 minutes north from home to near the town of Rowley, Alberta, to escape the clouds looming on the southern horizon. I shot this at 1:40 am MST with the Moon emtering deeply from the umbral shadow, but still quite bright and overexposed here below the Pleiades in Taurus, and to the west of the Milky Way. Orion and Sirius are at left. I had two cameras on trackers set up to shoot wide-field shots of the eclipsed Moon. This is a single 25-second exposure at f/2.5 with the Rokinon SP 14mm lens on the Canon 6D at ISO 3200. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the subject.

The Disappearing Moon over the Rockies (May 26, 2021)

A composite "time-lapse" blend of the setting Full Moon entering the Earth's umbral shadow on the morning of May 26, 2021. I shot the images during the initial partial phases of the total lunar eclipse, pre-dawn as the Moon was setting into the southwest. This shows the Moon moving into Earth's shadow and gradually disappearing in the bright pre-dawn sky. Totality began about 10 minutes after the last image at bottom right was taken, by which time the Moon's disk was too dark and the sky too bright to be able to see the totally eclipsed Moon. I shot this from a location just south of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, chosen to be under clear skies at eclipse time, which proved to be the case. This is a blend of 17 exposures, the last being a 1/4-second exposure with the 85mm Samyang RF lens at f/4 and the Canon R6 at ISO 100, untracked on a tripod. The sky and foreground come from that exposure. The previous images are at shorter shutter speeds (starting at 1/50 second at the start of the eclipse at top left) and generally exposed for the Moon's disk outside the umbra. All are blended onto the base image with a Screen blend mode. Halfway through the sequence some light clouds intervened. I shot images at 1-minute intervals but choose only every 5th image for this blend, so the Moons are spaced at 5-minute intervals. The Moon moves its own diameter from east to west in 2 minutes.

Last of the Eclipsed Moon (May 26, 2021)

The total lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021, taken at 5:01 a.m. MDT, about 10 minutes before the start of totality, with a thin arc of the Full Moon at the top of the disk still in sunlight. The rest is in the red umbral shadow of the Earth but the eclipsed portion of the Moon was so dim it was disappearing into the brightening twilight. About 3 to 4 minutes later, the Moon was gone, into totality and too dim to see. I shot this from a location just south of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, chosen to be under clear skies at eclipse time, which proved to be the case. So despite this being a lunar eclipse widely seen over half the world, a chase was still required to see it! In this case, I drove to a site farther north and into a brighter sky at eclipse time, but with much better weather prospects than sites in Alberta to the south where the sky would have been a bit darker and closer to the mountains. But I was happy to get it! This is a single 0.8-second exposure with the 200mm Canon L lens at f/8 and the red-sensitive (helping with the sunrise colours) Canon Ra at ISO 200, untracked on a tripod.

Red Moon over the Rose Colored Rockies

The total lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021, here in the late partial phase about 15 minutes before totality began, with a thin arc of the Full Moon at the top of the disk still in sunlight. The rest is in the red umbral shadow of the Earth. The same pinkish-red light is beginning to light the distant Rocky Mountains in the dawn twilight. A few stars of Scorpius are visible. From my location the Moon disappeared into the brightening twilight sky as totality began — the fully eclipsed Moon was too faint to see, as this was a dark eclipse despite the short 15 minutes of totality, surprising, as I was expecting to be able to capture the fully eclipsed Moon in the morning sky. But not so. It was gone from view not longer after this, despite still being up and in clear sky. I shot this from a location just south of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, chosen to be under clear skies at eclipse time, which proved to be the case. So despite this being a lunar eclipse widely seen over half the world, a chase was still required to see it! In this case, I drove to a site farther north and into a brighter sky at eclipse time, but with much better weather prospects than sites in Alberta to the south where the sky would have been a bit darker and closer to the mountains. But I was happy to get it! This is a single 1.3-second exposure with the 200mm Canon L lens at f/8 and the red-sensitive (helping with the sunrise colours) Canon Ra at ISO 400, untracked on a tripod. I did blend in a short 1/6-second exposure for just the bright part of the Moon to tone down its brightness, using a Lights-Mid1 mask in Lumenzia.

Partial Lunar Eclipse in Twilight (Portrait Version)

The total lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021, here in the late partial phase, with a bright arc of the Full Moon at the top of the disk still in sunlight. The rest is in the red umbral shadow of the Earth. The same pinkish-red light is beginning to light the distant Rocky Mountains in the dawn twilight. A few stars of Scorpius are visible. From my location the Moon disappeared into the brightening twilight sky as totality began — the fully eclipsed Moon was too faint to see, as this was a dark eclipse despite the short 15 minutes of totality, surprising, as I was expecting to be able to capture the fully eclipsed Moon in the morning sky. But not so. It was gone from view not longer after this, despite still being up and in clear sky. I shot this from a location just south of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, chosen to be under clear skies at eclipse time, which proved to be the case. So despite this being a lunar eclipse widely seen over half the world, a chase was still required to see it! In this case, I drove to a site farther north and into a brighter sky at eclipse time, but with much better weather prospects than sites in Alberta to the south where the sky would have been a bit darker and closer to the mountains. But I was happy to get it! A blend of 4 exposures showing the partially eclipsed Moon in light cloud and blue twilight at dawn on May 26, 2021. With the 200mm telephoto and Canon EOS Ra.

Red Moon in Blue Twilight

The total lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021, here in the late partial phase, with a bright arc of the Full Moon at the top of the disk still in sunlight. The rest is in the red umbral shadow of the Earth. The same pinkish-red light is beginning to light the distant Rocky Mountains in the dawn twilight. A few stars of Scorpius are visible. From my location the Moon disappeared into the brightening twilight sky as totality began — the fully eclipsed Moon was too faint to see, as this was a dark eclipse despite the short 15 minutes of totality, surprising, as I was expecting to be able to capture the fully eclipsed Moon in the morning sky. But not so. It was gone from view not longer after this, despite still being up and in clear sky. I shot this from a location just south of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, chosen to be under clear skies at eclipse time, which proved to be the case. So despite this being a lunar eclipse widely seen over half the world, a chase was still required to see it! In this case, I drove to a site farther north and into a brighter sky at eclipse time, but with much better weather prospects than sites in Alberta to the south where the sky would have been a bit darker and closer to the mountains. But I was happy to get it! A blend of 7 exposures showing the partially eclipsed Moon in light cloud and blue twilight at dawn on May 26, 2021. With the 135mm telephoto and Canon EOS Ra, and with images stacked and blended with ADP Pro luminosity mask extension panel in Photoshop.

Partial Lunar Eclipse in Clouds (May 26, 2021)

The total lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021 here in the initial partial phases with it embedded in some thin cloud and in the brightening dawn twilight. The clouds add a glow of iridescent colours around the Moon, with the part of the Moon's disk in the umbral shadow a very deep, dim red. A subtle blue band appears along the umbral shadow line, usually attributed to ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere. The stars visible here are in the head of Scorpius. This is an exposure blend of two images: a long 0.8-second shot for the sky, clouds and umbral shadow, and a short 1/15-second shot for the still bright portion of the Full Moon not in the umbra. I used a Lights1 mask created with Lumenzia to blend the short exposure into the long one. The eye can see these huge range of brightnesses but the camera cannot and so multiple exposures are needed to record the scene as the eye saw it. Both images with the Canon 60Da camera at ISO 100 and the 200mm Canon L lens at f/4. Not tracked, just on a tripod. Taken from a site near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta at 4:20 am MDT.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse in Clouds

This is the partial penumbral eclipse of the Moon (eclipse magnitude 83% — ie. only 83% of the lunar disk was in the penumbral shadow) of November 30, 2020, taken at maximum eclipse about 2:40 a.m. MST. The Moon was in fast-moving low cloud which added the colourful lunar “corona” around the Moon’s disk, caused by water droplets in the clouds diffracting the moonlight. This effect was obvious to the naked eye and in binoculars, though I have increased the contrast and saturation to bring out the colours here. The contrast increase also brings out the very subtle difference in brightness across the disk of the Full Moon, with the top (north) edge of the Moon embedded most deeply into the penumbra and darkest, and the bottom (southern) edge not in the shadow at all and brightest. But the gradation is subtle and obscured somewhat by the clouds. The Moon was precisely and completely Full here with no terminator or shadows along the limb. This is a single exposure (not HDR) with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100 through the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor at f/6 for 0.4 seconds. The clouds dimmed the Moon enough that a single exposure could take in both the Moon and clouds.

Success Selfie with Lunar Eclipse (Jan 20, 2019)

A selfie of the successful eclipse chaser bagging his trophy, the total lunar eclipse of January 20, 2019. This was from a site south of Lloydminster on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, but just over into the Saskatchewan side. The area promised the best prospects for clear skies this night and predictions proved accurate, and made the 5-hour drive north from home well worth it. This is an untracked single exposure of 15 seconds at ISO 3200 and f/2.8 with the Sigma 20mm Art lens and Nikon D750. However, I blended in a shorter 1-second exposure for the red eclipsed Moon itself to prevent its disk from overexposing as it would in any exposure long enough to record the Milky Way. The eye can see both eclipsed Moon and Milky Way together in the sky at once, but the camera cannot. So it takes a blend of exposures to show the sky the way the eye saw it. In the picture is my other camera in use that night, the Canon 6D MkII with a 200mm lens on a Fornax tracker for taking tracked close-ups of the Moon near the Beehive star cluster. The green light is from the dew heater in use around the lens to ward off frost over the 4 hour shoot.

Looking at the Lunar Eclipse with Binoculars

A selfie of me looking up at the total eclipse of the Moon on January 20, 2019, using binoculars to enjoy the view. The Moon was in Cancer, near the Beehive star cluster and east of the winter Milky Way here at centre. Sirius is the bright star above me; Orion is at right. The object to the left of the Moon is the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer. I shot this from an oil well access road south of Lloydminster, just over the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary on the Saskatchewan side, just east of Highway 17 which runs along the border. This is a single untracked exposure of 25 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 20mm Art lens, but with a shorter exposure of 1 second blended in for the Moon itself so it retains its color and appearance to the naked eye. Your eye can see the eclipsed Moon and Milky Way well but the camera cannot in a single exposure. The scene, taken just after the start of totality, just fit into the field of the 20mm lens. A little later in the night it did not. The temperature was about -15° C this night but with little or no wind and little frost to contend with.

Looking at the Lunar Eclipse with the Naked Eye

A selfie of me looking up at the total eclipse of the Moon on January 20, 2019, using just the naked eye to enjoy the view. The Moon was in Cancer, near the Beehive star cluster and east of the winter Milky Way here at centre. Sirius is the bright star above me; Orion is at right. The object to the left of the Moon is the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer. I shot this from an oil well access road south of Lloydminster, just over the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary on the Saskatchewan side, just east of Highway 17 which runs along the border. This is a single untracked exposure of 25 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 20mm Art lens, but with a shorter exposure of 1 second blended in for the Moon itself so it retains its color and appearance to the naked eye. Your eye can see the eclipsed Moon and Milky Way well but the camera cannot in a single exposure. The scene, taken just after the start of totality, just fit into the field of the 20mm lens. A little later in the night it did not. The temperature was about -15° C this night but with little or no wind and little frost to contend with.

Eclipsed Moon Beside the Beehive

The Moon in mid-total eclipse, on January 20, 2019, with it shining beside the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer. This was the unique sight at this eclipse as it can happen only during total lunar eclipses that occur in late January. There was one on January 31, 2018 but the next will not be until 2037. This view tries to emulate the visual scene through binoculars, though the camera picks up more stars and makes the Moon more vivid than it appears to the eye. However, creating a view that looks even close to what the eye can see in this case takes a blend of exposures: a 1-minute exposure at ISO 800 and f/2.8 for the stars, which inevitably overexposes the Moon. So I’ve blended in three shorter exposures for the Moon, taken immediately after the long “star” exposure. These were 8, 4 and 2 seconds at ISO 400 and f/4, and all with the Canon 200mm telephoto on a Fornax Lightrack II tracking mount to follow the stars. At this eclipse the Moon passed across the northern half of the umbra, leaving the top of the Moon bright, even at mid-totality as it was here. These were taken from a site near Lloydminster, in Saskatchewan, where skies proved clear all night, better than the prospects back at home 500 km farther south in Alberta. It was worth the drive north the day before the eclipse.

Eclipsed Moon Beside the Beehive

The Moon in mid-total eclipse, on January 20, 2019, with it shining beside the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer. This was the unique sight at this eclipse as it can happen only during total lunar eclipses that occur in late January. There was one on January 31, 2018 but the next will not be until 2037. This view tries to emulate the visual scene through binoculars, though the camera picks up more stars and makes the Moon more vivid than it appears to the eye. However, creating a view that looks even close to what the eye can see in this case takes a blend of exposures: a 1-minute exposure at ISO 800 and f/2.8 for the stars, which inevitably overexposes the Moon. So I’ve blended in three shorter exposures for the Moon, taken immediately after the long “star” exposure. These were 8, 4 and 2 seconds at ISO 400 and f/4, and all with the Canon 200mm telephoto on a Fornax Lightrack II tracking mount to follow the stars. At this eclipse the Moon passed across the northern half of the umbra, leaving the top of the Moon bright, even at mid-totality as it was here. These were taken from a site near Lloydminster, in Saskatchewan, where skies proved clear all night, better than the prospects back at home 500 km farther south in Alberta. It was worth the drive north the day before the eclipse.

Eclipsed Moon and Umbral Shadow

The Moon in total eclipse, on January 20, 2019, in a multiple exposure composite showing the Moon moving from right to left (west to east) through the Earth’s umbral shadow. The middle image is from just after mid-totality at about 10:21 pm MST, while the partial eclipse shadow ingress image set is from 9:15 pm and the partial eclipse shadow egress image set is from 11:15 pm. I added in two images at either end taken at the very start and end of the umbral eclipse to add a more complete sequence of the lunar motion. However, on those images the lunar disk is darkened mostly by the penumbra. All images are with the Canon 6D MkII on a Fornax Lightrack II tracking mount to follow the stars at the sidereal rate, to keep the stars fixed and let the Moon drift from right to left against the background stars. Thus, the Moon images are where they were in relation to the background stars and therefore show the Moon’s motion through the umbral shadow, with the shadow edge on the partially eclipsed Moons defining the shape of the large and circular umbral shadow of the Earth, approximately three times bigger than the Moon. At this eclipse the Moon moved across the north edge of the umbral so we are seeing the top of the shadow circle drawn here in the sky. At this eclipse the Moon was also shining beside the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer. This was the unique sight at this eclipse as it can happen only during total lunar eclipses that occur in late January. There was one on January 31, 2018 but the next will not be until 2037. The central image of totality includes a 1-minute exposure at ISO 800 and f/2.8 for the stars, which inevitably overexposes the Moon. So I’ve blended in three shorter exposures for the Moon, taken immediately after the long “star” exposure. These were 8, 4 and 2 seconds at ISO 400 and f/4, and all with the Canon 200mm telephoto. The two partial eclipse phases are stacks of 7 exposures each, from very short for the bright portion of the lunar disk, to long for the shadowed portion. They are blended with luminosity masks created with ADP Pro v3 panel for Photoshop, but modified with feathering to blend the images smoothly. This sort of “HDR” blending is necessary to depict the eclipsed Moon as your eye saw it, as while the eye can encompass the great range of brightness across the eclipsed Moon’s disk the camera cannot. Even the totality image is a blend of exposures, as the top part of the Moon was quite bright at this eclipse due to the Moon’s path across the northern half of the umbra. The timing of the partial eclipse images about 1 hour before and 1 hour after the central image places the lunar disk against the stars so those disks don’t overlap. But …. ….The images aren’t quite symmetrical for shadow placement and phase, because as luck would have it, the drive of the Fornax tracker, which has a limited travel, decided to run out of travel right at mid-eclipse at 10:15. All is needed was another 10 minutes of travel, but no! This required resetting the drive, then reaiming and reframing the camera right at the worst time, and taking time. So the timing and orientation of the latter images were compromised, requiring a little fudging on my part to place the egress set. However, the overall placement of the Moon and shadow is close to reality and the composite serves to illustrate the concept. These were taken from a site near Lloydminster, in Saskatchewan, where skies proved clear all night, better than the prospects back at home 500 km farther south in Alberta. It was worth the drive north the day before the eclipse.