by Anthony Barreiro » Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:47 pm
Joe Stieber wrote:I too had envisioned capturing a similar picture of Mars, Spica and the totally-eclipsed moon on the morning of 2014 Apr 15, but alas, inclement weather precluded it. Here in southern New Jersey, there were broken clouds during the penumbral stage, so I saw some slight darkening around 1:30 am EDT (0530 UT), but then the clouds thickened. Around 2:15 am (0615 UT), after the start of the partial stage, a light sprinkle of rain was falling, but a gauzy gap in the clouds appeared in the moon's direction and I was able to see some umbral darkening of the lunar disc and get an
unremarkable picture of it. I checked again a couple of times later, but it was heavily overcast, so I never saw any totality.
That's a lovely picture, Joe. Very moody and atmospheric!
At Chabot observatory in the Oakland hills we had high clouds throughout the eclipse and periods of fog after midnight, but we were able to see the Moon through most of the eclipse. For about 15 minutes during mid-eclipse the sky cleared enough to show the Moon's coppery color very well, and stars down to third and fourth magnitude were easily visible to the unaided eye. Then the clouds and fog moved back in and the Moon disappeared completely. Most people went home before the end of totality, but those of us who kept watch were treated to the spectral Moon emerging from the Earth's shadow, glowing through the fog and clouds. If I had my druthers, I would druther have had a clear sky, but it was a lovely night nonetheless.
[quote="Joe Stieber"]I too had envisioned capturing a similar picture of Mars, Spica and the totally-eclipsed moon on the morning of 2014 Apr 15, but alas, inclement weather precluded it. Here in southern New Jersey, there were broken clouds during the penumbral stage, so I saw some slight darkening around 1:30 am EDT (0530 UT), but then the clouds thickened. Around 2:15 am (0615 UT), after the start of the partial stage, a light sprinkle of rain was falling, but a gauzy gap in the clouds appeared in the moon's direction and I was able to see some umbral darkening of the lunar disc and get an [url=http://wasociety.us/images/Lunar_Eclipse_15-April-2014.jpg]unremarkable picture of it[/url]. I checked again a couple of times later, but it was heavily overcast, so I never saw any totality.[/quote]
That's a lovely picture, Joe. Very moody and atmospheric!
At Chabot observatory in the Oakland hills we had high clouds throughout the eclipse and periods of fog after midnight, but we were able to see the Moon through most of the eclipse. For about 15 minutes during mid-eclipse the sky cleared enough to show the Moon's coppery color very well, and stars down to third and fourth magnitude were easily visible to the unaided eye. Then the clouds and fog moved back in and the Moon disappeared completely. Most people went home before the end of totality, but those of us who kept watch were treated to the spectral Moon emerging from the Earth's shadow, glowing through the fog and clouds. If I had my druthers, I would druther have had a clear sky, but it was a lovely night nonetheless.