Happy Moon Day 2014

[PPI Brian]

Tonight like a verse from some ancient prophecy, the moon will turn blood red. At least, that's what astronomers are predicting. It's difficult to determine precisely what color the moon will turn when it travels into the umbra of Earth's shadow, but that doesn't stop astronomers from making predictions. It's been a very long time since our skies have been graced by a total lunar eclipse, and this year we will have not one, but two total lunar eclipses visible from North America, and as an added bonus, we will also get to see a partial solar eclipse on October 23rd.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/miss-rare-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-tonight/story?id=23316736

[PPI Brian]

Here are a couple of low resolution composite images I captured of the April 2014 eclipse. These are rough images that need a lot of polish before I'm satisfied with them, but it was the first time I successfully captured enough images to create a "time lapse" composite of a total lunar eclipse. The environmental conditions were less than optimal, and I had to resort to using a hair dryer to remove the dew from my little 60mm telescope. Wish I would have thought of that during totality -- the images would have come out a lot better.

(I apologize in advance if you're using Internet Explorer 11, because it won't show embedded images in the Simple Machine Forums for some reason. Works fine in Firefox and Chrome.)

[PPI Karl]

Absolutely gorgeous!!!  These look good enough, and professional enough, to be in a magazine. 

When I was a kid, I used to sneak out to the backyard in the middle of the night with my dad's binoculars (which I still have) and lie on my back studying the lunar surface with them.  I guess I'm reminded of this b/c it's getting very close to my Dad's 7-year anniversary this month and those binoculars always remind me of him.  (Bear with me.)

[PPI Brian]

Absolutely gorgeous!!!  These look good enough, and professional enough, to be in a magazine.  

When I was a kid, I used to sneak out to the backyard in the middle of the night with my dad's binoculars (which I still have) and lie on my back studying the lunar surface with them.  I guess I'm reminded of this b/c it's getting very close to my Dad's 7-year anniversary this month and those binoculars always remind me of him.  (Bear with me.)

Thank you, Karl. It was really good to sit outside and watch the eclipse, and it was good to share that experience with friends and family. I've been photographing lunar and solar eclipses since the 1970's, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

When I was a kid I used to borrow my Dad's binoculars and spend the night laying on my back on the roof of our house in National City observing the stars and the moon. That's a great way to pass the time no matter how old you are, and I highly recommend it. You can feel a deep connection with the universe when you look at the night sky, and that helps put all our earthly problems into perspective. It also helps remind us of the things that are most important in life -- our family and friends.