A rare opportunity

A rare opportunity

The clear early morning hours today provided a great view of a brilliant full moon. On schedule the upper part of the moon in the western sky started to darken as the earth's shadow consumed its brightness in this lunar eclipse.

All of the moon disappeared to a faint crescent and beyond as the eclipse completed in early morning light. Tonight we will have our brilliant moon back in another clear winter sky.

Total lunar eclipses are rare enough. This one was special . I was happy to be up to observe it under ideal clear (almost ~ 23F) winter conditions.

Photo trivia: moonlight is reflected sunlight, so exposures are close to our daylight exposures. Old rule of thumb for 35mm photography ~ the diameter of the moon in a frame is 2% of the lens focal length. Longer exposures of the moon require a siderial mount on a tripod to take account of the earth's rotation