The Partial Eclipse!

[johnmc9929]

I missed max eclipse because of cloud at the wrong minute, but managed a few just after. This was taken at 19:41UT with the camera attached to the back port of the ETX90mm, giving 1250mm (f13.8). ISO800 1/320 sec. Just about got the whole moon in! It seemed to be a much deeper and darker partial than expected, anyone else notice this?

Attachments:

[brianb]

Here's my effort - I also had cloud interference.

www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Moon/Lunar Eclipse 091231 1936.jpg[/img]
2009 Dec 31, 1936 UT. Canon 40D, 300mm lens + 2x extender, 1/250 sec @ f/11, ISO 400. Should have set the ISO lower.

The umbra seems to shade imperceptibly into the penumbra making the phase appear bigger than it actually is, I've noticed this effect before. When the eclipse becomes nearly total, so that the umbra becomes visible in copper colour, you realise that most of the "shading" is simply the darker part of the penumbra.

[pook]

Hey Guys,
Great shots. They give the impression the Moon has bumped into something---- The end of time???
Just quoting the today's current Dr. Who Finale (18.40 on BBC1)
: )
Pook

[bigeye155]

Here is my effort, taken in between banks of cloud at 19.20. Brian, I'd agree that the penumbra was darker than expected making the partial eclipse appear larger than I expected.

David.

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[brianb]

the penumbra was darker than expected making the partial eclipse appear larger than I expected.

Yes ... I had an experiment with extreme contrast stretch on my image & got this which shows pretty clearly what is umbra and what is penumbra.


Same details as above....

[jonathan]

I was thinking that same thing john it did look a whole lot better than what we where led to belive,any way here are a couple i got one with the 300mm and a nice wide angle.



jonathan.

[bigeye155]

With direct viewing, I could easily see the umbra and penumbra, but there is no doubt that DSLR's don't have enough dynamic range for such a tough subject. I say, bring back FILM!!!

David

[johnmc9929]

Great shots all!

Brian, that's a very dramatic image and shows clearly that we did indeed get about 8% the darker part of the penumbra being the rest. At the end of the day the DSLR does not seem to give the true representation as does film, the only advantage really is not having to wait a fortnight to see your results! But I agree David that film does a better job on the lunar eclipse, though I don't think it will ever be back.

[Paul Evans]

Now here's a story - I went to visit friends in Sligo - went straight from work and forgot to put my DSLR in the car!

So, here's my effort taken by the unconventional method of holding my Lumix compact to one of the eyepieces of my 15x70 bins! Call it "Astrophotography on a budget" if you like



Not brilliant, but a record of the event!

[brianb]

here's my effort taken by the unconventional method of holding my Lumix compact to one of the eyepieces of my 15x70 bins!

Worked pretty well, didn't it? Well done!

[johnmc9929]

Pretty good, and a lot better than some on SW!