Total Lunar Eclipse


The Total Lunar Eclipse of January 2000 happened just 20 days into the century and was worthy of a photo.
The first total eclipse since September 1997, and the first eclipse the experts say shouldn't have altered colors or
brightness due to atmospheric debris from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

I didn't expect to get any photos, thin clouds covered the sky creating a "ring effect" around the Moon just
before the eclipse began. After awhile, the sky cleared showing a clear sky and a bright Moon! I hurried to
setup as the Earth's shadow had appeared to have already eaten about 1/3 of the bright Moon.

The Moon was at a distance of 224,087.0 miles (360,632.1 km). Rise 17:32, Transit 00:41, Set 06:54
Temperature was 41º, wind chill 39º, dewpoint 45º.

9:25pm, 9:35pm Moon in umbra area

9:45pm, 9:50pm shadow is more defined

9:55pm, 10:00pm Moon nears totality...

10:02pm, at 10:06pm Moon enters totality

10:25pm, 10:45pm Moon in totality (4 secs).

11:23pm the Moon leaves totality


11:30pm, 11:40pm, and 11:45pm the Moon starts to brighten as it moves past the Earth's shadow
11:55pm, 12:00am a brightening Moon...

As the Moon rose higher in the sky, the camera body was almost touching the scope mount. Soon centering
the Moon in the viewfinder started becoming more difficult. At least views of the shadow movement are visible.
12:05am, 12:15am

Minolta Maxxum 5000i camera was at prime focus with Kodak 400ASA Gold film. All photos, except totality
were taken in automatic mode. Totality shots were at 4 secs using manual shutter release. Photos were scanned
at 600dpi with autobalance processing, and some minor brightness and contrast adjustments.

The scope was not aligned because of the short exposures. The scope was set to f/6.3 to capture the whole Moon.

A montage of 8 eclipse images is below:





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Images Copyright © 2010 Calvin Hill