Total Lunar Eclipse 2022 November 08

The cloud forecast was spot on, as early patchy cloud cleared away to leave essentially clear skies over Melbourne for the total lunar eclipse of November 8th which occurred during the early evening hours. The eclipse magnitude of 1.359 indicated that the Moon passed deeply into the Earth's umbra and the length of totality over Melbourne was a respectable 1 hour 25 mins - 10:17UT (21:17 AEDT) to 11:42UT (22:42 AEDT). 

I set up my camera and lens on a motorised mount on parkland not far from the StKilda Marina taking care to screen as many streetlights as possible by trees to minimise scattering of light into the camera's optics. By observation, I would place the brightness of the Moon during totality as being 3 on the Danjon scale. 

Equipment: Canon 5D MkII, 500mm lens with 1.4X extender on a polar-aligned Skywatcher EQ-6 Pro mount.

Here are my results.

 

21:24 h AEDT, 1 sec exposure, f8, ISO800

21:28 h AEDT. A few minutes before totality. 2 sec exposure, f7.1, ISO500

22:15 h AEDT; Mid eclipse - lovely gradation of colour from deep red through to light yellow-orange: 3.2 sec exposure, f7.1, ISO400

22:59 h AEDT; totality just over. 2 sec exposure, f7.1, ISO400

23:11 h AEDT; 1 sec exposure, f7.1, ISO400. The Moon is moving steadily further into the Earth's penumbral shadow.

A composite of three images, detailing the course of the eclipse.

 

Eclipse Home