Lunar Eclipse on October 27, 2004

This was my first attempt at astronomy-related photography on my own, during the total lunar eclipse of Oct 27, 2004. There are more details about the eclipse at NASA and Space.com.

I took these pictures from Houge Park in the Cambrian Park district of San Jose, California (near the Los Gatos border) where the San Jose Astronomical Association was holding a "star party" for the eclipse. I've heard of them through friends in Ham Radio and have been to their star parties before to see eclipses or comets.

We had some high clouds in San Jose so the sky was never completely clear for these pictures. Nonetheless, I think they turned out very well for a first attempt. The first hint I got that I was doing something right was when children started flocking around to watch what I was doing as I took the pictures. That was definitely a good sign, and I tried to accomodate their curiosity.

One thing the kids asked about was the reddish color of the Moon. It wasn't so obvious on the telescopes. Though every telescope is better at this than my camera's zoom lens, the thin high clouds really did wash out the view. The 10-second exposure time gave a minor advantage to my camera and made the colors stand out more. Well, the kids liked it anyway.

So you might also ask... what's the deal with the reddish color? The Moon was in the shadow of the Earth, so no direct sunlight was reaching it. But the light of all the sunrises and sunsets around the Earth bent (refracted) reddish sunlight around the edges of the Earth and was the only light reaching the Moon. The same reddish light we see when the Sun is just below the horizon before sunrise or after sunset was what was shining on the Moon. This happens during every lunar eclipse.

Anyway, this was just to get some practice taking pictures in the dark with my digital camera. I'm obviously not an astronomer. Most of my photography has been of rocketry events.

All of these pictures were timed exposures taken at night. Depending on the amount of light, most were between 3 and 10 second exposures.

(2048x1360 1270K) (500x332 12K)	At Houge Park in San Jose, the San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) hosts "star parties" here regularly, and whenever there's something like an eclipse or comet in the news. In this dark shot, you can kind of see people in the dark around telescopes on the left. In the right background, lights at the park playground are on.
(2048x1360 758K) (500x332 6K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon.
(2048x1360 840K) (500x332 8K)	The president of SJAA projected onto a wall a web site from Norway where they were posting live pictures of the eclipse (without clouds.)
(2048x1360 893K) (500x332 6K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon.
(2048x1360 940K) (500x332 6K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon.
(2048x1360 757K) (500x332 4K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon.
(2048x1360 970K) (500x332 7K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon. The brake lights of a car driving out of the park made a red streak in the exposure.
(2048x1360 997K) (500x332 10K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon. The headlights and brake lights of a car driving into the park made red and white streaks in the exposure. In the background, the glow of San Jose's city lights add up over the exposure to look like sunset. But this was well after dark.
(2048x1360 824K) (500x332 6K)	The headlights and brake lights of a car driving into the park made red and white streaks in the exposure. In the part you can't see, people are huddled around telescopes in the dark in the park.
(2048x1360 1103K) (500x332 10K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon. More car lights streak in the picture - it was hard to get a timed exposure without some traffic showing up before it was over.
(2048x1360 879K) (500x332 5K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon.
(2048x1360 1043K) (500x332 6K)	People wait around telescopes in the dark for clouds to move away from the Moon.
(2048x1360 994K) (500x332 3K)	As the clouds move away, the Moon already in totality of the eclipse begins to be revealed.
(2048x1360 1017K) (500x332 3K)	As the clouds move away, the Moon already in totality of the eclipse begins to be revealed.
(2048x1360 1045K) (500x332 3K)	As the clouds move away, the Moon already in totality of the eclipse begins to be revealed.
(2048x1360 976K) (500x332 3K)	Also with more light, I can adjust the focus better...
(2048x1360 1036K) (500x332 3K)	The Moon in totality emerges from the clouds.
(2048x1360 1046K) (500x332 3K)	The Moon in totality emerges from the clouds.
(2048x1360 1080K) (500x332 3K)	This was the beginning of a period where we had the least clouds. It never completely cleared. But this was where it became worthwhile to try to get pictures.
(2048x1360 1000K) (500x332 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(2048x1360 837K) (500x332 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(2048x1360 919K) (500x332 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(2048x1360 943K) (500x332 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2253K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2320K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2288K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2277K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2367K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2014K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon in totality.
(3072x2048 2196K) (500x333 3K)	This is the first hint of the end of totality coming as the left side of the Moon brightens.
(3072x2048 2150K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2191K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2373K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2376K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2221K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2304K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2406K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2331K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2344K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2397K) (500x333 3K)	The left side of the Moon brightens toward the end of totality.
(3072x2048 2410K) (500x333 4K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.
(3072x2048 2032K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.
(3072x2048 2117K) (500x333 4K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.
(3072x2048 2178K) (500x333 4K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.
(3072x2048 2313K) (500x333 4K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.
(3072x2048 1824K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.
(3072x2048 1887K) (500x333 3K)	The Moon emerges from Earth's shadow.