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.
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.
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.
