APOD: The Solstice Moon s Eclipse (2010 Dec 23)

[APOD Robot]

The Solstice Moon s Eclipse

Explanation: A big, bright, beautiful Full Moon slid into planet Earth's shadow early Tuesday morning. Remarkably, the total lunar eclipse coincided with the date of the December Solstice. During the eclipse, the best viewing in North America found the coppery lunar disc high in a cold winter sky, the Moon reddened by light filtering into the Earth's dark central shadow or umbra. The light comes from all the sunsets and sunrises, seen from a lunar perspective around the edges of a silhouetted Earth. Passing closer to the center of the umbra, the Moon's southern hemisphere (left) appears darker in this eclipse image, recorded from Deerlick Astronomy Village, Georgia, USA. The picture is a digital composite, a separate longer exposure added to an eclipse frame to capture the surrounding star field.

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[neufer]

The Solstice Moon's Eclipse

Passing closer to the center of the umbra, the Moon's southern hemisphere (left) appears darker in this eclipse image, recorded from Deerlick Astronomy Village, Georgia, USA. The picture is a digital composite, a separate longer exposure added to an eclipse frame to capture the surrounding star field.

[b] :shock: [color=#FF0000]Deerlick AstroNoMy Village[/color][/b] :wink:

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<<The Deerlick Astronomy Village, DAV, is a unique planned community catering to the specific needs of amateur and professional astronomers. DAV is located in the very darkest skies in Sharon Georgia, far away from big city lights but at the same time convenient to many major metropolitan areas in the South Eastern USA.

1) Build a community that encourages individual ownership of land plots for observatories and home sites
2) Support the needs of amateur astronomers by leasing observatory/storage area sites,
3) Establish a large common observation area to support individual member access, as well as to support various public and private events and
4) Establish common sense covenants and rules to protect the site from light pollution, provide for the safely of observing members, and at the same time, provide a location that is both family friendly and educationally significant.>>

[mexhunter]

It is an extraordinary picture of the eclipse.
Greetings
César

[wbd]

It is an extraordinary picture of the eclipse.

Agreed - my compliments to the photographer.

When I clicked on the image to view the largest resolution version, I noticed some small dots and an 'x' above and to the right of the centre of the moon.
I would be interested to know what these markings represent.

Cheers,
Rohan

[owlice]

I noticed some small dots and an 'x' above and to the right of the centre of the moon.

I don't see the "X" you mention. I do see some dots:

Screen shot 2010-12-23 at 7.55.26 AM.png (48.13 KiB) Viewed 2821 times

Are these what you see?

[mesaxi]

I don't understand why they wash the starfield out of these pictures. It gives it a very fake and pixelated look around the edges, like someone just put the picture in paint and clicked the background with the fill bucket a few times.

[wbd]

Are these what you see?

I'm sure one of those dots is a small cross - but yes, this is what I am referring to.
Any ideas why they might be there?

[phil from yorkshire]

It's a really beautiful picture, but unless I'm mistaken, it looks like you've reproduced the photo rotated clockwise by ninety degrees . . . as a result Tycho and all the other Lunar features are not in their naturally correct positions. Just wondered why you did that? I had a great view of the early stages of the eclipse from here in North Yorkshire, England, early on Tuesday morning, just before the Moon sank below the north-western horizon as daylight came. Thanks for this and all the other great images on APOD, wishing a very Merry Christmas to all !

[owlice]

Any ideas why they might be there?

None whatsoever! Pixel boo-boo, perhaps?

[orin stepanek]

I don't understand why they wash the starfield out of these pictures. It gives it a very fake and pixelated look around the edges, like someone just put the picture in paint and clicked the background with the fill bucket a few times.

Look again; the stars are there.

[WildGuruLarry]

Any ideas why they might be there?

Those look like "hot pixels", or "stuck pixels". I see the exact same pattern sometimes on my digital camera. After a while the sensor starts to degrade, and some photosensor sites get stuck in the "on" position. I'm not exactly sure why they form the star pattern sometimes... might have to do with the Bayer filtering that most colour CCD and CMOS cameras use.

[biddie67]

I spent a very pleasant two hours sitting out in the wilds of my yard from a little after midnight CST to about 2:15 AM CST. With Bandit, my cat, curled up in my lap and my binoculars in hand, I watched my yard grow dark and the stars begin to pop into view as the eclipse progressed. I loved seeing the reddish color develop across the face of the moon.

At about 1:56 AM CST, I saw a shooting star go across under the moon - did anyone else see it?

I didn't stay for the rest of the eclipse cycle because the cold got to me but what a great experience - the rarity of the timing of the eclipse made it an especially special event to witness.

[owlice]

biddie, someone on the APOD Facebook page reported that his (her?) friends saw a meteor; look here and scroll down to read the comments: http://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTheDay

[Chris Peterson]

At about 1:56 AM CST, I saw a shooting star go across under the moon - did anyone else see it?

Anybody more than a few miles away from you would not have seen it in front of the Moon. Anybody more than 50 miles away probably wouldn't have seen it at all, since it would be very low in the sky for them, if not over the horizon completely.

Meteors are generally very local phenomena.

[chrishet@comcast.net]

Thx all for the comments...there were so many fine images, and videos, of this eclipse it was hard to believe they chose mine.

I didn't notice those bad pixels till I had already sent in my image...I need to check some of my other images...it would be a shame to have a bad sensor after just 8 months! I can easily fix my final image.

As for the rotation, my bad...I connected the camera and forgot to rotate it back into a proper position...blame it on the late hour, the cold, or the wine I had for dinner! lol...

Thx again!
Chris Hetlage

[wbd]

I didn't notice those bad pixels till I had already sent in my image...

Ahh, thanks for the confirmation Chris - thought it may have been special indicators of some sort!

As for the rotation, my bad...I connected the camera and forgot to rotate it back into a proper position...blame it on the late hour, the cold, or the wine I had for dinner! lol...

Thx again!
Chris Hetlage

Thank you for such a nice pic & Merry Christmas to everyone (here's to more wine )!

[biddie67]

Owlice - thanks for mentioning the meteor comment over on the FB APOD page - I added a comment over there about my sighting. I was disappointed that no one had mentioned it here but it seems that it was more localized than I would have thought.

Chris - I apologize for not mentioning before about how excellent and beautiful your photo is - I was too caught up with describing my own little adventure that night. Congratulations, for sure !!!

That was interesting info about the pixels on the sensors deteriorating - something to keep in mind about the quality of the ccd technology when I finally get to buy a decent camera .....

[Beyond]

biddie, someone on the APOD Facebook page reported that his (her?) friends saw a meteor; look here and scroll down to read the comments: http://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTheDay

Owlice, you forgot to mention to click on "wall" before scrolling down. I almost didn't find it. You have to include 'little' things like that for some of us people YEE-HA!!

[biddie67]

(grin) beyond - same thing happened to me .....

[mr sandman]

so what was the six white dots and the x looking thing with them?i noticed them aswell ,used 2 line up the different composite images????is it the place we landed there and the moonbuggy is the x thing??
ailens from another galaxy??

it is a pretty pic.if you need ,i can edit those dots out for you in paintshop.

[chrishet@comcast.net]

so what was the six white dots and the x looking thing with them?i noticed them aswell ,used 2 line up the different composite images????is it the place we landed there and the moonbuggy is the x thing??
ailens from another galaxy??

it is a pretty pic.if you need ,i can edit those dots out for you in paintshop.

Thx...I don't think this is where they landed...I saw that place over in an old NASA building at KSC...lol...I can easily remove these with PS...unfortunately I didn't see them before I sent the image to APOD....Thx all again and Merry Christmas!