Wednesday, September 30, 2015

My Pictures of the Super Blood Moon Eclipse

Last Sunday, September 27th, there was something amazing in the sky. Many of you were probably aware that there was a full moon that night. It was also a super moon, a blood moon, and featured a lunar eclipse! This was a pretty big deal because these events have not occurred since 1982. We won't see this moon action in the sky again until 2033!


I was fortunate enough to witness the eclipse. The weather was good and the skies were clear. The eclipse happened a lot faster than I expected. Not to say that the shadow whooshed across the moon, but there was steady movement over the course of an hour. If you took, say a five minute break from looking up, you'd see a definite difference in the moon.

Something cool and almost eerie was the red cast to the shadow once it had nearly covered the moon. At times it looked purple too. I had to laugh at one point because I heard a dog howl. I swear, in the darkness someone's dog howled! How perfect is that?

So of course I had to take a ton of photos through the moon's process of eclipsing. Here they are now, from the bright beginning to the dark end.









And then it started getting red... Funny enough, this is how it looked to my eye, but I could only capture the red from far away. When I closed in, it looked more like a fade from yellow to purple to red.


I cropped in to show you better.






After the eclipse, the shadow across the moon faded back the other way. It was sort of bright from the bottom too. Then it was its normal self again. I had some fun with my fisheye lens for the next two shots. Quite a dramatic sky.




Pretty amazing, hey? I was sure glad to have the opportunity to see this full/super/blood moon with an eclipse! Did any of you see this?

14 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Chris ~ Thanks! I'm happy to be able to share these with you, since there's no way you would have seen this occurrence. I think that's one of the best things about the internet - being able to share things with people around the world. I've seen photos of a lot of things online, like tropical plants and animals that I'd never see where I am. So, glad you liked these!

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    2. Yeah, was it not visible in Australia? I didn't hear any news about it being here.

      Thanks muchly, Justine! You're always the best!

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    3. Chris ~ Nope, it didn't reach Australia. I actually saw a map showing the parts of the world where the eclipse would be visible that night. If you're interested in seeing one of those maps:

      Lunar eclipse visibility around the world

      Aww, You're welcome. :)

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  2. Amazing!! I tried to get pictures, but my old camera just didn't have what it takes. Time to get a new one.

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    1. Julie ~ Thank you! So you did actually see the eclipse, even if you didn't end up getting pictures! Did you see basically what I'm showing here? I bet you had really clear, open skies to view.

      I'm amazed at what this camera can do. There's no way I would have captured these shots with my last camera. This one can zoom like crazy! I think I was zooming up to 80x for some of these, but it does become a challenge at that point. The slightest movement, like breathing was making me waver. So this was taking a lot of self control! If you're interested, I have a Canon PowerShot SX260. We might have talked about that before, I can't remember. I feel like I'm always recommending this camera to someone!

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  3. We could not see it at all.. sky was overcast....
    Now able to eat more "solid" foods and no nasty pills to make me "sick"... so (other that normal health issues) Stacey is rather well today dear Lady Justine...
    And a Happy First day of October....

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    1. Dr. Theda ~ It would appear that a lot of people didn't see the eclipse the other night. I must have been really fortunate to have the weather and clarity to see it. The early part of the day around here had been overcast, so I'd thought that I might miss seeing it as well. Luckily, it cleared up! So now I can at least share these pics with everyone who wasn't able to see it. A Happy First day of October to you too!

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  4. I have that camera at the top of my list. I want to get a new one for Christmas.

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    1. Julie ~ It deserves to be at the top of your list! :) Besides the super zoom, I've found my pictures to be a lot clearer and vibrant.

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  5. Justine - Really good pictures! I couldn't see it myself so it's interesting to see what it looked like - I didn't even know a blood-moon was possible! Looks like the planet Mars or something.

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    1. Matt ~ Thank you! Yeah, the red and purple cast to the moon was something totally new to me too. If I hadn't taken these photos, I probably would have thought they were Photoshopped! I could hardly believe my eyes. I was thinking as I watched the eclipse how this would be a terrifying sight for someone who didn't know what was going on! Have you seen those recent pictures of Mars? Scientists are saying that they've discovered flowing water on the planet. It looked more like flowing mud to me, but still. There was some liquid on Mars!

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    2. Yeah, it really looks neat, all I remember is some yellow. I heard about the water on Mars but I haven't seen the pics yet. Yeah, I think they may be judging by the mud that looks like a river bed or something.

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