Lunar Eclipse - or why Matt needs a tripod for his birthday! by matt
The lunar eclipse tonight was as amazing as we expected. While I was in class, Allegra braved the below-freezing cold and snow flurries for over an hour and a half attempting to get pictures with our high-zoom camera and telephoto lens. Needless to say, once class was finished, I dashed home and took more pictures. Unfortunately, the lack of a full-size tripod made it impossible to use the long shutter speeds necessary for good pictures as the moon got progressively darker. Lesson for the future: get a tripod!!!
At the climax of the eclipse, we broke out the binoculars for the best views of the moon’s surface. If it wasn’t so cold (and late), I would have pulled out my telescope. The next lunar eclipse around here is in Dec 2010 - why does it always seem to occur during the cold months?!?
Enjoy the very few pictures that turned out even decent enough to put up in our gallery. I’ve brightened and cropped three in particular that we like best.
Posted: February 21st, 2008 by matt under allegra, matt, photos, science.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Amber
Time: February 21, 2008, 1:36 pm
Nice pictures! We tried a couple times to go out and take a look, but it was so clouded over here that we couldn’t see the moon at all. *sigh* I’m glad you got to see it and even take some pictures!
Comment from Sharan
Time: February 21, 2008, 4:03 pm
Your photos look pretty good to me. I’m amazed what you were able to do without a tripod… and shaking in the cold :). We had a tripod but ours are still only so-so. We had spectacularly clear skies for the entire eclipse - amazing for Seattle, huh? And our temperatures at the time of the eclipse was a balmy 40.
Comment from Eric
Time: February 21, 2008, 10:48 pm
… and while buying the tripod don’t forget to get the remote shutter release too.
Comment from Jonathan
Time: February 24, 2008, 7:27 pm
Looks good Matt - thanks for posting them. Jenn and I had the same problem as Amber (obviously, being that we live a less than 10 miles apart as the crow flies), so our telescope stayed in the corner that night…
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