Hi everyone, here is my contribution.
As you probably know, next month (September 28th, 2015) will see the fourth total lunar eclipse visible from the US in 2 years. This was an exceptional tetrad, providing great viewing opportunities especially to observers in North America. See:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc ... ar_tetrad/ for more details.
Because Lunar eclipses are one of nature's most beautiful spectacles, I was determined to make the most of it. So, I traveled to places with favorable weather and beautiful landscapes to enjoy each Lunar eclipse in a unique context (see detailed story below the image).
Full resolution image (12,000 x 10,000 pixels):
http://www.jfgout.com/Astronomy-Misc/i- ... pos-v1.jpg
Backstory:
April 15th, 2014 - Delicate Arch, Utah
My first trip was a 1,200+ miles (2,000km) journey to Utah to witness the April 15th 2014 total eclipse of the Moon from Utah's most emblematic landmark: Delicate Arch. After a flight from Indianapolis to Denver and a 6 hours drive to Moab, UT, the hardest part was still to come: the 1.5 miles hike to Delicate Arch. What is normally an easy hike becomes a nightmare when you carry 100 pounds of gear. A telescope, 4 cameras, an 8 feet traveling rail, many small accessories, warm clothes, water, food, ... But it was worth it and I got to enjoy the eclipse with the Arch in the foreground, in company of a dozen other people who also chose to spend the night there. You could see the shadow of the Arch projected by the Moon disappearing as the eclipse was getting deeper and deeper, and re-appearing after the totality. And from such a remote area, far away from the light population, the sky filled up with thousands of stars during the totality, with even the milky way rising on the East. Being so much dimmer and with all these stars in the background, the Moon looked much smaller than usual, but this is just a tricked played by the brain, an optical illusion making the ~half a degree disc of the moon appear bigger or smaller depending on the context.
After totality, most people start the hike back, and only another passionate photograph and I stay until the end.
More pictures from this eclipse:
http://www.jfgout.com/Lunar-Eclipse-of-April-2014-Fr/
October 8th, 2014 - Monroe Lake, Indiana
The second trip was much shorter but no less epic! A short car ride with a canoe on the car roof to go see the eclipse from the shores of Monroe Lake, about 15 miles (25Km) from home. However, things did not look good when around noon on October 7th (~15 hours before the eclipse) a huge thunderstorm was dumping heavy rain over Bloomington. It was so dark, the street lights turned on for some time... But the weather forecast was still calling for a clear night. In the evening, we leave Bloomington to the sound of the tornado warning sirens, got lost on the small dirt roads going to the lake and finally launch the canoe shortly after sunset. A couple of trips in the canoe to transfer all the gear from the car to the camp site (again: telescope, traveling rail, cameras, camping gear, ...) and with some help from my 3 accomplices for the night we were quickly cooking some salmon on a fire under the stars. While everyone goes to sleep under the tents, I set up the gear. 4 hours of work to get everything ready, finishing just in time to go wake up everyone for the beginning of the show at 5am. After a bit more than an hour, while the Moon was still traveling across the shadow of the Earth, daylight was coming back from the East. A couple of minutes after the still-partially-eclipsed-Moon set below the horizon we were enjoying a glorious sunset over the lake.
More pictures from this eclipse:
http://www.jfgout.com/08Oct2014eclipse/
April 4th, 2015 - Big Sur, California
For this eclipse, only the end was visible East of the Rockies. So I decided to go visit my friends Bob and Jaime in Santa Cruz, California and enjoy the eclipse with a view of the Pacific ocean. After all, it's only a 2,000 miles (3,000 Km) trip...
We ended up in a small creek, North of Big Sur, in the Garrapata State Park. Again, I let people sleep while setting up my usual gear, with the help of my friends' friend Ricardo who tagged along for the trip. What better way to wait for the eclipse than observing the tide recessing and listening to the sound of the Pacific and its powerful waves breaking on the rocks of the Californian shore? And then the eclipse. The slow disappearance of the Moon paced by the waves, the short totality and the stars filling the sky, ... This time again, the partial eclipse was still underway when the daylight started warming the landscape. Quickly, packing all the gear before the rising tide swallowed the tripods with the cameras, and back to Santa Cruz for a long nap. Third total eclipse of the Moon in 12 month, third success...
More images from this eclipse:
http://www.jfgout.com/Lunar-eclipse-of-April-4th/
September 28th, 2015
The next lunar eclipse will take place on September 28th, 2015 and again will be visible from the US. East of the Rockies, all parts of the eclipse will be visible and even if you live West of the Rockies you will enjoy a partially-eclipse Moon rise followed by the total eclipse. For those of you in Alaska and Hawai, only the very end (after totality) will be visible. More details here:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEp ... Sep28T.pdf
And I? Well, you can be sure I will be on the road, somewhere, chasing clear skies and breathtaking landscapes to complete a tetrad of Lunar eclipses hunting and bring the last picture to this composition.
Note that if you miss the eclipse of September 28th, 2015, the next one will be on January 31st, 2018 and will also be visible from North America (see:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEp ... Jan31T.pdf).
Have a nice day,
Jean-Francois Gout
Milky way and famous astrophotographer Oscar Blanco by Alfredo Madrigal, en Flickr
