Total Lunar Eclipse February 20, 2008
Almost Totality February 20, 2008 
Start of Lunar Eclipse, February 20, 2008 
Saturn and Eclipsed Moon February 20, 2008They were calling for snow right up to the day before, but those silly weather guys were wrong, the weather was great, got some good pics of the eclipse, makes me a happy Bob, got a picture of the February Full Snow Moon and a picture of a Total Lunar Eclipse all in the same night, the last Total Lunar Eclipse till 2010. Native Americans called the February Full Moon, "Full Snow Moon" because it was usually the month with the heaviest snow falls and hunting became very difficult, in fact some North American tribes such as the Kalapuya called it the Full Hunger Moon.
Some interesting facts about an eclipse; during totality the Moon's brightness is reduced by a factor anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 times; during an eclipse the Earth gets between the Moon and the Sun, the reds and oranges of the lunar eclipse are caused by the Sun's light passing through and being refracted through our Earth's atmosphere which scatters or blocks the blues and allows the reds and oranges of the Sunlight through to the Lunar surface much in the same way it does for Sunrises and Sunsets, in fact the color of the Moon during totality is the direct result of all the Sunrises and Sunsets happening simultaneously around the world at the time of the eclipse. If the Earth had no atmosphere, the Lunar surface would be totally black.
Total Lunar Eclipse August 28, 2007
Some more great news, Shuttle Atlantis and her crew landed safely Wednesday at 9:07 am EST. after a successful mission to deliver Europe's first permanent orbital laboratory to the ISS. During it's 13 day mission Atlantis circled the Earth 202 times covering 5.3 million miles.
UPDATE: The US shot down the spy satellite late Wednesday, they figure they got the fuel tank. The missle was launched from the USS Lake Erie from the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii at 10:26 EST. over 130 miles high and 24 minutes after the launch. Due to high swells in the North Pacific the US has missed it's first window of opportunity to shoot down the crippled spy satellite Wednesday, they have another 10 days to give it a go before the satellite will tumble to the ground and supposedly release it's toxic gases.
I'll leave you now with my latest Sunset as an animated gif.
54 comments:
Bob:
Bravo! You did it! Great shots of the moon for your collection. That was also a great shot showing the moon and Saturn. Super. It's dark where I live - thick cloud layer all evening. The News said that it would let up - but no dice.
After all the talk about shooting down that satellite it would be such an irony if they couldn't get it done because of the weather. Embarrassing.
Very nice post.
Awesome awesome awesome Bob! I tried like hell to photograph it to blurry, I going to stick to wildlife photos lol. I sent a link here on my post, so everyone could see some real good photos of it!!
Nice shots. I knew I would find some here. I had my telescope out and it was pretty darn cool to watch. Unbelieveable that it was so clear. Cheers.
WOW Bob, you did it - such a great captures of the Eclipse :D Congrats my friend! In Ntherlands was foggy and I was able to get a few shots of the full moon but with the eclipse there was also high couds and nothing that any of us eager photographers could do to get an eclipse shot :S, and now hoping that over 2 years and 10 months there will be better conditions, which I highly doubt, but one never knows...
In any case - thanks so much for sharing yours with us here :D
{{{HUGS}}} and have a great week ahead!
Tatiana
I was thinking about you tonight when I was out there watching! LOL I even made a plug for your blog today in my post.
I'm visiting from Roger's Photos...came to see the eclipse...awesome shots...I watched a part of it but your pics are even better than the real thing.
Peace
Thanks swubird, too bad about you not seeing the eclipse, was almost cloudy here as well, always next time, pretty funny about the spy satellite, they have 10 more days to give it a shot,lol.
Thanks Roger, the Moon is a hard target, you may not think so, but because of its brightness and continual movement, it is not as easy as one may think, so don't feel bad or give up, my first shots of the moon are, well you wouldn't recognize it as such. Thanks for the link, be over later.
Thanks oswegan, did you get any shots? The eclipse was a blast to watch through a scope, even without, this year with Saturn close buy it was beautiful.
Thanks Tatiana, you just never know with the weather, like you said there is always 2010, at least you got some full moon shots, that's always cool.
Thanks odat for dropping by, glad you like the pics, they were fun to take.
Thanks drowseymonkey, wow thanks for the plug, be over later.
we like a happy bob!
the moon fotos are great, it really has that much color visible by the naked eye?
glad you posted, i missed it as i went to bed just as it was in mid eclipse.
Lol, thanks Paula, to bad you missed it, it really had that much color to the naked eye, it was beautiful!
It was such a site! Great pics. I took some myself but they lack the great detail that yours provide.
Keep warm bob :)
What fantastic lunar eclipse photos, Bob. I knew I would find some great shots here this morning. I saw the beginning of the eclipse. We had heavy cloud covering and the moon only was visible for peeks of it.
Love the other images too. Glad the shuttle landed safely and that the spy satellite has broken up.
Hugs, JJ
Hey Aura thanks, it was a fun shoot.
Thanks JJ, glad you were able to see parts of it, we were very lucky to view the whole process here in Saskatoon, not bad temps either only -17c.
Great stuff! I'm interested in the differences between our angles of the moon, between Michigan and Saskatoon. So glad you had clear skies, me too! What a treat. But it was soooo cold here.
Bob congrats, I think getting your 40D was really worth. Beautiful moon shots, wow, and very nice gif image, I keep calling a winner every time. We got beautiful but cold weather here. I was able to take photos through bedroom window, but then for the eclipse I came out, I think I got one good one as the cold wasn't helping. I have to tell you that I spend some time just watching, I think this one was more enjoyable than the last one, probably because lasted longer and because started earlier in the evening. Again spectacular shots, interesting facts - job well done. I will post mine soon too. Anna :)
BTW my last moon photo got lot of hits, I have no idea where they all came from, must have been the hype before the eclipse. Thanks, Anna :)
Great job on your images, what equipment did you use?
Thanks Anna, looking forward to your images. I actually haven't looked through all mine, I know I got some gray greenish ones too, weird.
Bob, Roger sent me here to see your beautiful photos of the eclipse. I didn't get to see it. But at 2 o'clock in the morning the moon was unusually bright and gorgeous in the NorthEast southwestern sky.
Hahahaha,I was just replying to a comment on my blog about our local weather forecasters.I wonder if your local forecasters and mine trade imformation?! :) .
Nice pics of the eclipse…I was able to see it here,, in the
land of the frozen cornstalks…watched it thru by blogrm window…
It must have started around 15 till 8:00 or so and the moon was
fully eclipsed at about 9:00…it turned a light orangepinkish color..
Not very dramatic as perhaps a solar eclipse but something to
celebrate with a frosty mug…H*ll,, I celebrate any type of event
with a frosty one....;-)
Thanks the teach, glad Roger sent you over, nice to meet you.
Hi Bob,
My wife and I took our kids to watch the eclipse last night and it was awesome! I have to say that I first learned about this lunar eclipse from this blog, so thank you for helping me expose my children to the wonders of the universe; and thank you for such an informative website. -Mike.
Thanks gt281. for us amateur astronomers Lunar eclipses are like Christmases, we don't get out a whole lot,lol.
Thanks for that Mike, glad you guys were able to see it , was really something.
Hi Andrew, I think they do, glad you where able to get a pic of the eclipse too.
Hey Bob,
I knew you would keep me updated lol :). I didn't go outside to see the eclipse, and I told my mom "I'll see it in Bob's blog" and I am so glad that you covered the wholed thing and shared it with us :D! Thank you *bowing*!
Another great news: only this week the European networks released the Spy Sat destruction...I could proudly say "I already knew it, I read about in Bob's blog" lol :)!
Great pictures, but my fave was the incredible sunset :D! Gorgeous!!!
Cheers and have a blessed weekend!
Ummm, bad news Bob. Since they shot the satellite down, I have not seen any indication of those satellite pieces around here that you so covet. Sorry buddy.
As for those shots of the eclipse. Absolutely wonderful. They will be forever etched into my memories. I was a bad boy. I fell asleep only to wake up too late :-( But these shots make up for it. Well done!
Thanks Max, too bad you missed the eclipse but I am glad I was able to help you out with pics and updates, it was quite a show, so happy you like my sunset, it is one of my favs.
Thanks JD, too bad you missed the eclipse, I took around 200 shots, got a few decent ones which is amazing considering I was shooting through a ton of ice crystals messing up the seeing and focus, got one more special pretty eclipse shot I'll be posting on Sat or Sun.
Too bad about the satellite pieces, I already had a place picked out for it on my desk,lol.
Hi Bob! Amazing moon shots you got. The moon seems so close. I always liked looking at Moon photographs online since I had the Internet.
Hi Happy Bob;
Fantastic images!
My wife and I watched the eclipse form our open bedroom window! Totally clear sky here in Vancouver. It was great! We took photos of the eclipse and thought of how you manage to get these great photos!
I was hungry while watching the eclipse so now I know who I can identify with.
Wow a megasunset/rise!!
Its great that we have an atmosphere so we have such nice sunrises/sets and eclipses…oh yes and survival is an interesting off shoot, I feel like such a Survivor….
What kind of mileage does the shuttle get; with the price of fuel….I mean have they thought of a hybrid?
…and with shooting down the satellite they say “ahem….we can do it….next?”
We should have started a Fantasy Falling Satellite Contest, people could pick countries, provinces/states, there could be prizes, t-shirts with “I was hit by satellite debris” maybe next time….
Sunsets are a nice way to end an article since it saying goodnight…. Very nice!
I love the eclipse pictures the most, though the sunset is quite stunning too. This was the first eclipse that I have attempted to photograph but I was quite disapointed with the way the pictures turned out, so I decided to stick with my telescope and my eyes until I get a better camera. But thanks to you I have some good pictures to look at.
The Fool
Thanks Mike, glad you like the pics.
Thanks livingsword, not as easy as it looks this taking pics of the Moon, found that out when I first started, I usually ended up with a bright white ball with speed streaks on it,lol
Lol, about the living part of the Sun being a nice off shoot , but it is so true, take the Sun for granted a lot of the time.
Thanks the fool, with me I was so wrapped up in trying to get the perfect shot, probably didn't appreciate the eclipse as much as I could have. Looked very nice through a scope, but this year with Saturn and Regulus it looked stunning and Kind of surreal just with the naked eye.
Great shots Bob. Hubby took a couple than I plan on posting today. Of course yours did turn out better.
Boba,
Fantastic shots of the eclipse!
Thanks for stopping by Ohio Nature.
Tom
Thanks Rose, I'm sure your pics will be just fine, any pics are great especially since this is the last Total Lunar eclipse till Dec 2010.
Hi Tom, thanks for dropping by, love your images of the eclipse, so nice to see other people out there enjoying the show.
Hey Bob;
Taking photos of moving objects is always difficult! LOL
(I will not get into the other more challenging issues for a person like me such as turning the camera on)
A photo of “a bright white ball with speed streaks on it” could be quite interesting; you could start an ET blog. LOL
We often take the most essential parts of life for granted because they are good, consistent and reliable, that is why it can be so traumatizing when they fail, all of which is applicable to relationships.
I did get to see the eclipse in person... so that was cool. I wondered if you were going to have clouds or not. Looks like you got some good shots!
Lol livingsword, I'll look into the ET angle.
For sure relationships can and do fall, even if we don't want them too and it usually does come as a surprise because like you said it was reliable and consistent mustn't take the ones we love for granted.
Thanks Shirley, didn't have clouds but did have an annoying ice crystal thing going on, made getting a real tight shot without noise almost impossible.
Bob - your eclipse shots came out great - you captured the color beautifully. Your sunset is one of the prettiest ones you've done yet!
Hi Bob
For once I was awake early enough to see the eclipse. It sttarted about 3.45am for us.
I was not satisfied with my pics so never posted them.
What I found interesting is that you guys in the Northern Hemisphere see a mirror image of our view. That is beyond my little brain.
Shooting down the spy satelite was ineresting. I guess it opens up all possibilities and shows that nothing is beyong the range of the missiles. The question is was it shot down to prevent contamination, or was it a test? Surely the satelite would have burnt up on re-entry? Supppose one can't take chances
Thanks Kathy, I realy liked how the eclipse turned out too, and the sunsets is one of my favs as well.
Max-e, lets face it, it was a perfect oppourtunity for target practice, and they did it. As far as the Moon goes, it is cool that you guys in the Southern Hemisphere see the Moon upside down, basically because you guys in the Southern Hemisphere are upside down compared to the Northerners, stars, everything look differently then in the Northern Hemisphere, very cool, I would like to see some of your images, don't care about the quality, just like to see an upside down Moon.
First let me say, Bob, that I can't believe it's -19 degrees where you are!
Secondly, I congratulate you on a great post. The eclipse photos and info are awesome, and I appreciate the info on the shuttle. I don't keep up with this stuff the way you do, but I can count on you to inform me.
As for toxic gases being released, I shudder to think about how they're going to handle these unknowns!!!
Sorry for the late reply, but thanks for your comment lynda, glad tyou like the pics.
Post a Comment