Lunar Eclipse 28 September 2015

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well the eclipse was amazing here, although the moon was disappearing into mist before it reappeared and I retired. This is an edit down of what I posted on an astronomy forum.

My daughter got up to see it, I had my small scope set up for optical viewing. Within minutes she had the knack of afocal shots and keeping the disc in view. It absolutely blew her away and with the HDR on her iphone she was able to get both illuminated and red parts of the disc showing some detail.

I got lots of shots at 30-second spacing with my bridge camera, plus plenty with my DSLR through my bigger scope.

Visually, it was interesting how the eye keeps pace with the moon, yet the stars slowly come out.

Because daughter was using the non-photography scope I saw very little though a scope and focused on using my eyes and taking pics, but what I did see was magical, especially once the stars came out around the moon.

Some time after three I could see the milky way through cassiopeia and into perseus – proof that my skys aren't too bad when there is no cloud. I decided to slew round and get some shots of the Plieades, a bit later I spotted Orion, but not log after that a mist started rising and the moon rapidly faded to a dim glow. It would finally get behind the trees for good, so I packed up.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

To kck things off

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Waiting with bated breath to see your best results Neil.

[Gas_mantle.Participant @gas_mantle]

With clear skies all round I decided to stay up and thought it a sight worth seeing, I did struggle to photograph it though.

These are probably the best 2 I managed and was a tad disappointed – the first one I had to over expose the image to show the reddish colour and in the 2nd image I struggled to get accurate focus.

Both taken with Nikon D3100 and 300mm lens.

Peter.

Edited By Peter Nichols on 28/09/2015 10:47:37

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I watched, through binoculars, from about 03:05 to 03:45

Wonderful sight; but I was intrigued to notice that the colour seemed more apparent 'naked-eye' than through the 7×50 binoculars … maybe something to do with the way our eyes & brain automaically adjust White Balance.

MichaelG.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

I watched, and photographed it with my small camera, as it has a more powerful zoom, although the definition is a bit 'soft' at maximum. Left on Automatic, it focused on infinity, and got the colour very well. (It also used the flash, but strangely enough this had no effect!) I also discovered a few 'dead' pixels in the sensor. They look like stars on the LCD screen, but do not move with the sky, and do not appear on the image.

Regards

Geoff

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well with about 700 images to play with I'm struggling a bit to cope!

Hopefully I will end up with an animation of the first half of the eclipse, but a nearly 2-GB GIF???

Here are two low res versions of the half-way point and totality, both from very short stacks as the shadow was moving fairly fast. The bright bit in the second picture is not really as bright as it seems. The first shot is 1/400 sec at ISO100, the second is 15 seconds a t ISO 1600! Plus one bonus image taken at the end, part of the pleiades, just one shot so it's very noisy.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I used to take moon sights for navigation before GPS was common and it wasn't easy, as far as celestial bodies are concerned the moon is a ferrari

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Here's a compilation shot:

[Johnboy25Participant @johnboy25]

 

 

 

I set my alarm so that I wouldn't miss the eclispe while staying in Somerset (down the road from Glastonbury) it was pretty clear night with little light pollution to spark of. An interesting sight to behold! I hope I'm about to see the next harvest & red moon in 2033!

John

P.S. Some good shots everyone…

 

Edited By Johnboy25 on 29/09/2015 19:26:13

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Did you see this one, Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Received this link today, from Point Grey [purveyors of excellent industrial & scientific cameras]

… Might be of interest to Astronomers & Microscopists [and Engineers of course].

Difficult to know where to post it

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bandersnatch on 29/09/2015 22:58:42:

Did you see this one, Neil

Damn, I was hoping they would choose this one of mine

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Very interesting Michael. It confirms reports from users that CMOS cameras are now giving better results than CCD at low light levels.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Experimenters may be interested in this blog post, and more on his site.

The XBox Live Vision camera is available very cheaply from those game-exchange shops.

My post is not, however, entirely altruistic; because I'm looking for advice !

• The second photo in the blog post clearly shows a power rating of 5v 350mA
• All the specs I can find quote a resolution of 640×480
• BUT … The one I bought shows a power rating of 5v 1A
• AND … The native resolution [running on my Mac] appears to be considerably higher.

Question: Is there a 'v2' of the camera, and is it documented ??

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I would guess you have an upgraded version. You may find an older one is more sensitive.

Bear in mind that webcams are best for planetary and lunar use.

Best software is Sharpcap which is free and Robin who wrote it is incredibly good at taking on board user suggestions. He's working on a real time align and stack routine which may make it possible to use some webcams for video astronomy (i.e. picking up DSOs in real time).

I use PIPP to pre-process captured video.

I then stack in Autostakkert!2 or Registax, tweak levels on PhotoPaint and sharpen in Astra 2.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 05/10/2015 09:52:59:

I would guess you have an upgraded version.

.

Thanks, Neil … That was my guess too

MichaelG.

.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/10/2015 15:44:13

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/10/2015 15:52:03

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

That last image shows why something like Sharpcap is a good idea.

it will let you use full resolution to 'find' your target, then zoom by reducing the frame size but keeping pixel-resolution so your frame rate can be higher and files smaller, both helpful for planets.

[Enough!Participant @enough]

…. but can you do this?:

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Ha!

That would be fairly easy to copy during a real eclipse, but sadly the earth's shadow isn't that sharp.

Neil

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