May 15, 2003 Total Lunar Eclipse

At 7:30p.m. part of our eclipse crew gathered together to drive to our observation site. There were eight of us who joined together to watch the eclipse. Steve and I came prepared with coffee to help us stay awake after a long day at work. Mark setup his 8 inch scope and shortly after the camera's were going. Mark, Carrie, Steve, and I photographed and video taped the event. 

We had a slight breeze and high cirrus clouds created a fuzzy look to the moon. Nevertheless we watched in anticipation for the show with our friends by our side. At 9:02 the earth's shadow began to creep onto the lit surface of the moon. Cirrus clouds continued to hang around the horizon and the moon finally pushed passed most of them. Smoke from Mexico fires created a haze that never did give us a crisp view of the moon. Shortly after 10:14 p.m. the eclipse took on a Dark Brown color. 

The event was a wonderful collection of friends and astronomical wonder:) As we packed up, we laughed and watched lightning bugs dance over our heads. I can't wait until the next time we can come together again to view the starry skies....

The first row is still shots. Minolta X700 with a 1000mm lens. (The haze is very apparent.)
The second row shows still shots from video of the event.

moonpre.jpg (5148 bytes)  moon1.jpg (3276 bytes) moon2.jpg (2783 bytes) moon3.jpg (2497 bytes)
moon0101.jpg (7646 bytes) moon0022.jpg (4835 bytes) moon0033.jpg (5104 bytes) moon008.jpg (10108 bytes)
A combination of haze, cirrus, clouds and the beginning of the eclipse give the moon this spooky look.  Only a small slender piece of light is seen in this video capture.  The Eclipse was on the very edge of the earth's shadow and we still saw some of the light from the sun glancing off the moon.