Total Eclipse of the Moon

[airgunr]

Get your cameras ready. There will be a total eclipse of the moon on October 27. It will start clipping the moon about 8:14 pm Central time (I think that is 2:14am GMT) and reach total eclipse at approx. 10:23 pm. The total will last for approx. 80 minutes and then start comming out again. It should take another 1 1/2 hours to get full again.

I missed the meteors so I'm hopeing for clear skys for this. It should be visable over most of the US, Central & South America as well as Western Europe.

I'm going to try two cameras. One I will leave open for the entire eclipse. It should give me a dumbell shaped star/moon trail of the eclipse. The other camera I will either take multiple exposures, every 15 minutes (which might be hard to do), or a series of exposures over several rolls of film and then try to combine them into one (don't know how to do that either.... oh well, it's worth a try!).

I believe they have some information on it and how to photo the sky on http://www.astronomy.com

I hope someone gets this one. I'm praying for clear skys!

 

[BrettG]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely make sure I've got some film for this. Too bad I don't have a very powerful telephoto lens, but maybe I can at least work it into some neat compositions.

 

[airgunr]

You really don't need a telephoto for this. A 50mm lense or wider is probably better for an eclipse. That way you have a wide enough field of view to capture the whole path/sequence.

I'm going to probably use a 28-84mm set at about 35mm for the sequence shots and a 24mm for the time lapse/moon trail shot.

A telephoto would be fine if your just trying to get the faint edges or something.

 

[BrettG]

I'm having a difficult time finding the article on this on the website you gave. Do you have any idea of it's path in the sky it will be taking? I've got a cool spot I know of, if the moon is in a certain part of the sky.

 

[talonop]

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2412

 

[BrettG]

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2412

Bah, have to be a subscriber. I'm sure I'll find info somewhere as the date approaches. Thanks.

 

[Patrick]

Well that dates entered into my Outlook Calendar.
Thanks!

 

[airgunr]

I believe it will start low in the southeastern part of the sky here in the midwestern USA. For those in the UK or Western Europe it will be higher in the sky.

I think the duration should take it from full moon a few degrees above the horizon through the eclipse and back to full about 3/4's of the way to straight above. That's why I am going to use a wide angle lense.