Total Lunar Eclipse tonight/tomorrow early hours

Carole · Jan 20, 2019, 11:04:12

Heads up for those who did not buy a calendar.

Tonight 20/1/2019 or strictly speaking early hours of tomorrow morning 21/1/2019.

QuoteBut you'll need to be up early to catch it. From the UK, this total lunar eclipse will take place between 4:41am GMT and 5:44am GMT on Monday morning, just as the Moon is setting, and before the Sun rises. Mid-eclipse occurs at 5:12am GMT.

As I stayed up for the one in 2015 and imaged the event I don't think I will stay/get up this time and it's probably too low from my garden as it says just before it is setting.

Carole

The Thing · Jan 20, 2019, 11:58:46

I'll be on the beach to view it, there is a south and west horizon. I hope to get some pics as well. It's forecast to be clear and 3C.

ApophisAstros · Jan 20, 2019, 12:22:19

Quote from: The Thing on Jan 20, 2019, 11:58:46
I'll be on the beach to view it, there is a south and west horizon. I hope to get some pics as well. It's forecast to be clear and 3C.

you might have to queue up behind the refugees , must be like Dunkirk , from around the world on their way here....

this way for free everything...lol
Roger

Carole · Jan 20, 2019, 13:10:19

Quoteyou might have to queue up behind the refugees

Whoops, Never thought of that, but Duncan is on the west side of the Cherbourg Peninsular, so being much further from England, hopefully they are not choosing that as a departure point (or are they Duncan!!!)

Reminder to any-one using a DSLR that you will have to change the exposure once over half the Moon is in shadow in order to get the red to show up. Can't remember what I did last time whether it was the ISO or length of sub, and I recall a number of other people saying the same thing.

Carole

The Thing · Jan 20, 2019, 15:15:14

Immigrants have tried to nick a boat and get to Jersey, but they were sent straight back to France as Jersey has strict entry requirements (probably) as a balliwick. Also Ouisterham port (Caen), which we usually use, has recently seen a spike in immigrants trying to get into cars and lorries, never thought I'd see that many police and vans in such a small town and lovely summer resort. There are some ex-Calais fellas housed not far up the coast from here in a holiday camp place.

Anyway, I don't think they'll be interested in the Moon. Or will they...

The Thing · Jan 20, 2019, 15:19:48

As to the eclipse, I'm going to use my newish Panasonic which I can control from my phone, mounted on my Star Adventurer. The camera is able to focus on stars! I've tried some constellations handheld with it at high ISO and f2. It's very noisy at high ISOs though. I might try a 4K video for the transitions.

MarkS · Jan 20, 2019, 15:38:07

Quote from: Carole
Reminder to any-one using a DSLR that you will have to change the exposure once over half the Moon is in shadow in order to get the red to show up. Can't remember what I did last time whether it was the ISO or length of sub, and I recall a number of other people saying the same thing.

Last time I did this at ISO 1000 f/8 my exposures ranged from 1/1600sec for the full moon to 0.5sec for total eclipse. That's an incredible range!

Mark

Carole · Jan 20, 2019, 18:57:28

You've either got a good memory Mark, or you wrote it down.

Carole

MarkS · Jan 20, 2019, 20:43:16

Quote from: Carole
You've either got a good memory Mark, or you wrote it down.

I simply looked up the shooting parameters from a couple of images on my website. I did it in preparation for tonight

Mark

The Thing · Jan 20, 2019, 21:07:01

Plans change, beautiful clear night even if its bright as day! I can see most of the event from my observatory so that's where I am. I have just taken a hundred subs of the Moon - 0.0001s at unity gain (120 on my ASI294). Just about to do a stack in Autostakkert3! before setting up the Star Adventurer. The Panasonic has a reasonable phone app for control but there is a very limited range with the built in wifi access point, and it doesn't work over a USB cable which would be a boon. It's got a lovely Leica lens. Just hope I can get the focus right!

MarkS · Jan 21, 2019, 02:21:05

Looking clear here

Mark

The Thing · Jan 21, 2019, 02:51:59

All clear here as wel Mark.l. -3c outside. vnc on Android is great! I've got a timelapse running using Firecapture. it should get the whole first half of the eclipse before the Moon gets too low and hits the trees.

Duncan

The Thing · Jan 21, 2019, 04:04:20

Its getting dark and the stars are appearing. spooky.

MarkS · Jan 21, 2019, 07:37:11

I had a successful night. Lots of data to process. Temps dropped to -4 with everything covered in frost

Carole · Jan 21, 2019, 08:09:12

Looking forward to seeing all your images. Be good if you could get some up asap so Doug has something to show at the meeting on Wednesday.

Carole

Orpington Astronomical Society

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