I came home to hear that we were going to be able to witness a total eclipse of the moon tonight. At sunset. I was wondering if we were going to see a whole lot of nothing - not quite dark, no moon due to the eclipse. But I wandered down to the corner, which faces east, to see what was what.
I met some new neighbours and we mystified all the drivers going past, you could see them looking at us, looking aside to see what we were looking at - nothing obvious. I was on tenterhooks in case someone ran into the car in front but, thankfully, no accidents occurred.
We were about to give up and go home when, lo and behold, the moon became visible. It emerged from the haze on the horizon, with Mars nearby, and excited us quite a lot.
I took some photos but they are rather blurry as it was quite dark by the time we could see the moon - and it is far away.
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| As you can see, we had to contend with street lights and traffic but our patience was rewarded and the moon became visible. |
We could see the light gradually growing across the moon, eventually finishing with a full moon. Amazing to watch.
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| If you look very carefully at this image, taken by another, better camera than mine, you can see the rabbit in the moon, on the darker part. (I have never been able to see the man in the moon but I have often seen the rabbit.) |
I had to take the camera off automatic and try to remember how to use some of the aperture and shutter speed settings. I did remember eventually but I still had to deal with shaky hand so please forgive the blurry images.
4 comments:
Lovely photos, Mary. I'm glad you had the persistence to take a whole series of shots. It shows the movement of our planet across space. Amazing to think we are speeding through space when we feel as if we are standing still.
Thanks Parlance, I too am glad that I took the time to go and look - and that it was visible from my street. It is amazing how quickly it all happens!
fabulous photos Mary, really gives the sense of transition. I also love the changing colours...was it really this bright?
Thanks theregatha, the photos are zoomed and cropped but yes, it was fairly bright. It took a while to see as it had to come up through haze and clouds. I also heard, afterwards, that Mars was at its closest distance and was aligned, apparently a rare occurrence. So I am pleased I could be bothered to go out and look, and that there were new neighbours to meet and chat with so that I stayed long enough. Actually, the photos are a bit redder than the eclipsed moon looked to me but all the news was about the red moon, the 'bad moon rising', etc. It didn't look too bad to me, just interesting.
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