The Total Lunar Eclipse, the second this year, will be visible early Tuesday, August 28, 2007 in North America, especially in the West Coast. The Earth’s shadow will creep across the moon’s surface, slowly eclipsing it and turning it to shades of orange and red.
People in the Pacific islands, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand also will be able to view it if skies are clear.
I just can’t wait to see this one. This is my first Total Lunar Eclipse show for me. I planned to take both Digital & Film Pictures. I’ll post it later this week.
The actual time, if you live in Los Angeles, California or West Coast
- Partial eclipse begins at 1:51 a.m. PST.
- The full eclipse will begin an hour later at 2:52 a.m. PST.
- The total eclipse phase, in which the moon has an orange or reddish glow, lasts about 1½ hours.
- The peak will be at 3:37 a.m.
- Eclipse lasts about 3½ hours.
- People in the West Coast will get the full show. All right~!!!
An eclipse occurs when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun’s light. It’s rare because the moon is usually either above or below the plane of Earth’s orbit. Since the Earth is bigger than the moon, the process of the Earth’s shadow taking a bigger and bigger “bite” out of the moon, totally eclipsing it before the shadow recedes.
The full eclipse will be visible across the United States, but East Coast viewers will only have about a half-hour to see it before the sun begins to rise and the moon sets.
During the full eclipse, the moon won’t be completely dark because some light still reaches it around the edges of the Earth. The light is refracted as it passes through our atmosphere, scattering blue light – which is why the sky is blue – but sending reddish light onto the moon. Some people will see it as pinkish. I’ve learned this in painting classes in college. Cold lighting will cast warm shadow, and warm lighting will cast cool shadow.
The next total lunar eclipse occurs Feb. 21, 2008, and will be visible from the North America, Europe and Asia. But don’t count on the next one because after that the wait is longer. December 2010. December 2010? That’s right.
If you want to take picture of Total Lunar Eclipse with 35mm film or Medium format camera visit Mr. Eclipse.com He is the master of eclipse film photography.
If you want to take pictures with Digital Camera, follow these steps.
- You need a Tripod.
- Go find your digital camera’s user manual. You will definitely need it for this assignment.
- Set your ISO Setting to ISO 100. You can set it to lower if you want. Why? Because higher the ISO, the more noise you will get.
- Set it to the highest digital quality setting. It will look better if you zoom in or resize later.
- Set it to bulb setting. If you have point and shoot type digital camera, you may not have this function. Try Manual exposure and you will get better results.
- Experiment with different exposure time. You will have plenty of time to take pictures. Don’t rush.
- For Partial Eclipse: Start with 1/250, 1/125 and on to 1 sec.
- For Full Eclipse: You need longer exposure. Start with 1 sec, 2, 4 all the way to 20 sec.
- If you have SLR digital camera, you have no problem with eclipse photography.
- Don’t forget to wear warm clothes my friends. Bring a cup of hot coffee with you and bug repellent would be a good idea, too.
Good Luck and happy sky watching~!!!
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