"Total Lunar Eclipses"
I have been witness to nine total lunar eclipses
during my almost 30 years as an amateur astronomer. Each one
I remember fairly vividly in one way or another. Each one was different
both in the way that the moon appeared as well as my personal experience
in observing it.
A List of Total Lunar Eclipses that I've seen.
My first eclipse was the lunar eclipse
of December 30, 1982. I observed nearly the entire eclipse
from indoors. It was also a very early morning eclipse which
meant that not a lot of people that I knew saw it. I enjoyed viewing
it with my mother and father who were early risers. This eclipse
was very dark. I lost sight of the moon during totality. Had
I gone outside or had more observing experience I might have been able
to see it.
I don't remember a lot about what the moon
looked like during this eclipse because I hosted a star party and was very
busy answering questions and "repointing" telescopes. More than 70
people were in my backyard to view the eclipse through my 6" f/8 Criterion
Telescope and binoculars. I did not take any photographs of this
eclipse.

Weather was good for this eclipse and I managed
to get some shots of it using an old Albinar 70-300mm lens and my Nikon
FG camera. By today's standards the images don't measure up but at
the time I was very pleased. This was a fairly dark eclipse if I
remember correctly.
I video taped this eclipse on a cold winter's
evening and the weather was very clear.

This eclipse was well placed and timed in
the evening sky. The only bad thing was the cloudiness which interfered
with any picture taking of the totality phase. Below is my best attempt
at the totality phase.

This eclipse was well placed in the evening
sky but once again the clouds caused some troubles.

This eclipse occurred early on a hazy and
warm morning in August. Unfortunately the haze caused some problems
with the photographs. The moon all but disappeared into thicker haze
long before it set below the horizon. I think that if I had a choice
I would rather that lunar eclipses occur during the winter months than
in the summer due to photographic considerations. The air is just
more transparent during the fall and winter months.
The eclipse of 2008 will stand out in my mind as being the coldest eclipse so far. My first eclipse in 1982 may have been just as cold but I observed it from indoors. By the time that I was done and the high clouds were starting to move in the temperature had dropped to about zero degrees fahrenheit. My equipment was not working well and neither was my body by the time it was over. It became very tough to perform even the easiest of tasks such as switching camera lenses or to rotate the focuser on one of the telescopes. I felt like a climber on Mount Everest struggling to move about. It was worth it, however.
As the eclipse progressed my visual surroundings went through an interesting transformation. The surrounding countryside was bright when the eclipse began with the moon shining brightly on the white snow-covered landscape. At totality my surroundings were very dark which made it seem that much colder. Where I was once able to read text and see my observatory surroundings without any trouble I was now in darkness and feeling very isolated. There were no sounds to speak of except for the interruption of a passing car every now and then or the occasional bark of a dog. This was an eclipse for all the senses that is for sure.
Unlike the previous August eclipse, this
one was well placed in the eastern sky to view from my observatory.
I used an 8" f/6 reflector and a 6" f/8 refractor telescope to take pictures
and a tiny 70mm f/7 refractor to view it visually. The view with
the naked eye was great. Seeing the totally eclipsed moon suspended
there in the constellation of Leo, the lion, with the planet Saturn nearby
will not soon be forgotten. It looked like a painting to me.
I wanted to take a wide angle photograph showing the moon in Leo but
the balance of the brighter moon (even during totality) and constellation
would not work so I just stuck to telescopic images. My best image
taken of totality is below.
Partial Phase of the eclipse
Wide view above with the 300mm lens.
Totality

The appearance of this eclipse was very similar to that of the 2008 event. Weather conditions were much better this time with temperatures in the 30's F and little or no wind. I used the same telescope configuration as I did in 2008. Why change the equipment if it works? Something new I had at my disposal was the Nikon D90 camera which offered better resolution and better sensitivity with less image noise. The images came out the same as the D70 last time but it was easier to get better results. The eclipse was quite bright again which had a lot to do with the clarity of Earth's atmosphere. Because of it's similarity to 2008 I'd say that not much has changed in the atmosphere since then. This seemed to be a longer and deeper eclipse. The eclipse began high overhead and was easy to photograph from inside the observatory once again. This was very handy.
As I watched and photographed this eclipse
it dawned on me that each of the eclipses in which I've taken part are
a testament to the technology that we humans have available with which
to record such an event. Starting off with just a diary above I graduated
from one camera technology to the next with increasingly better results
in my opinion. There isn't any technology that I would refer to as
inferior because each was what I needed at the time to record the event
for my memory. Below is a sampling of the images that I made on this
early morning. They are of different exposures and may be brighter
of dimmer than actuality.
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Below are some larger versions of the best
images that I took during the "Soltice Eclipse of 2010".


This space reserved for the Total Lunar Eclipse on April 15, 2014.
| Rainbow at Elam Bend |
Web Site Owner Dan Bush
All Images Copyright ©1983-2010
D. Bush
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