~ Total Eclipse of the Moon in the constellation of Scorpius on 26th May 2021 ~

This lunar eclipse was so much different from all the previous ones that I’ve ever witnessed. For a start the whole disc of the Moon seemed not to go completely into the shadow of the Earth, so the northern limb stayed quite light while the rest of the Moon went a pretty ruddy red orange colour.

This made for some very tricky exposure times and processing to bring out the detail that had quite a lot of dynamic light ranges across the surface of the Moon.

Another thing that was very different was the very shallow pass into the Earths umbral, this is the first time that I’ve seen such a shot time of totality that was only 18 minutes long, usually it can last up to nearly an hour.

This full Moon was also a perigee Moon that meant it was a lot closer to Earth than normal making what is now known as a super Moon lunar eclipse…so it was quite special indeed!

As you can see from my previous blog the full Moon looked absolutely stunning rising at 5.30pm tonight but then cloud came literally from nowhere and covered the whole sky!!!
http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-a-big-bold-beautiful-super-moon-rising-on-the-26th-may-2021

Then like magic at about 8.40pm the sky cleared, by then the eclipse was well and truly in progress and were able to view and take images for a few hours until the end of the eclipse…Woohoo!

The wide field image above is a composite and was taken with a Canon 70 camera and a Sigma 10-20mm lens the exposure time was 15 seconds and ISO800.

The inserted total eclipsed Moon and the full image below was taken with an ED 127mm refractor telescope and a Canon 700D camera in the middle of totality at 9.16pm, the exposure time was 4 seconds and ISO200.

Image Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright
https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/428/total-lunar-eclipse-may-2021/

The beautiful full moon rising in the south eastern sky, this full moon is a perigee moon or what is referred to now as a super moon because the moon is closer to our Earth in its orbit.
 
In a few hours time there will be a total eclipse of the moon as the moon moves into the earths shadow, my next blog following will hopefully have all of those wonderful pictures :-)
 
The image above was taken with a Canon 70 Camera and an 18-400mm Tamron lens on a static camera tripod, the exposure time was 1/25th second and ISO200.
 
The second image to the right was taken with the same set up but with a wider field of 100mm so I could capture the moonlight on the water, the exposure time was 1/60th second and ISO200.
 
When taking images of a full moon rising, try and do it while it’s still quite low in the sky because as it rises it just get too blown out to capture any detail on the surface. If there’s some cloud you may get away with it being a little higher in the sky as the clouds act like a filter.

​Every time there’s an important astronomical event I always try and do a practice run before the night. This is to make sure where the object will be seen in the sky and also to try out all the equipment that I’ll be using.
 
The first thing I noticed was that the Moon was rising further to the southeast than I thought! That meant where I was going to set up the telescope was not suitable because of a large tree, so a new place by the pool was chosen.
 
I also wanted to see what constellation the Moon would be in during the eclipsed. I could see from where the Moon was tonight that tomorrow evening the red coloured eclipse Moon would be among the stars at the head of Scorpius.
 
I also needed to know what lens to use to capture a wide field image of the event and what camera settings would be best to use; this is why it’s always best to have a practice run before a special event.
 
So, I really learnt a lot tonight especially on the best place to set up the telescope and which camera settings to try and capture the eclipsed Moon tomorrow night :-)
 
I took this image below with my Canon 70D camera and a Sigma 10-20mm lens @ 10mm on a static camera tripod so I could capture a very wide field image. The exposure time was 25 seconds at f8 and ISO 400; I really like the lens flare that looks like a coloured comet :-)

The second image below is when some high cloud came over the sky and produced a circular corona around the Moon with some coloured iridescence from the ice crystals in the surrounding clouds.
​I hope that doesn’t happen tomorrow night!
 
This image taken with Canon 70D and Tamron 18-400mm lens @60mm; the exposure time was 1 second at f5.6 and ISO100.

~ Total Eclipse of the Moon ~

​This is the first total eclipse of the Moon to been seen here on the Gold Coast in Australia since 2018. Lunar eclipses are such wonderful celestial events to witness and completely safe to view through your binoculars or telescope.
 
This month’s full Moon is again special because it’s the second Super Moon or perigee Moon for the year, which means because of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around the Earth it’s much closer to our planet in distance.
 
For you to enjoy the event you’ll only need to go out into your own garden and look up at the Full Moon that will be to the north-eastern part of the sky, by the time the eclipse begins the Moon will be quite high up in the sky.

​You don’t need any fancy equipment to thoroughly enjoy this wonderful astronomical event, you can simply view the eclipse with your eyes or better still use a pair of binoculars, if you have a telescope than that’s even better, but it’s not a necessity.
 
A lunar eclipse is completely safe to view, as it’s reflected sunlight off the surface of the Moon, unlike a solar eclipse, which is very dangerous to look at with your eyes without proper solar glasses or filters.
 
The whole event moves quite slowly and this eclipse lasts from beginning to end just over 5 hours…so you’ll have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the wonderful spectacle.
 
If you have children the best time to view the event will be from 8pm until 9.30pm that is when you will see the Moon in partial shadow and the stunning colours of the Moon in total eclipse :-)
 
What time will you see the Lunar Eclipse?
 
The beginning of the eclipse (AEST) (penumbral) begins at 6.46pm and by 7.45pm you’ll really start to see the eclipsed Moon moving into the Earths shadow.
 
By 9.10pm the Moon will be fully eclipsed with greatest eclipse (Totality) being at 9.19pm where you will see the darkest reddish/orange hue, total eclipse ends at 9.28pm. (Because the Moon will only make a shallow pass into the Earths shadow the lunar disc will remain quite bright along the northern limb)
 
After that, the eclipse all goes in reverse and takes another 2 hours for the Moon to move away from the Earths shadow, by 11.51pm a beautiful silvery full Moon will be back in our night sky.
 
If your taking images, you can use your longest telephoto lens with your camera on a tripod, and use a cable release (or your camera timer) so you don’t touch the camera, also remember to manual focus. You’ll only need to take short exposures when the Moon is very bright in the early partial stages, but at full eclipse be prepared to take exposures for a few seconds, as there’s very little light on the surface of the Moon.
 
All lunar eclipses are different, it all depends how much dust, smoke or moisture is in the atmosphere that determines how dark or light the eclipsed Moon will look. The only reason we are seeing the Moon at all is because the Suns light is being refracted through the Earths atmosphere and shining onto the surface of the Moon while it's orbiting through the Earths shadow.
 
If you would like to go out and enjoy the lunar eclipse away from your home, you can find any one of the beautiful parks around the Gold Coast that have a clear sky to the north and take blankets and warm drinks to enjoy. If you have a sun shelter or tepee tent they are great for the little ones to lie down in while the older members enjoy the event.
 
Our Southern Astronomical Society (SAS) here on the Gold Coast is holding a public field night in the grounds of our meeting rooms at Oxenford starting at 7.00pm, please find the information below:

The Robina Library is also having a guest speaker with Professor Alan Duffy giving two talks on the Total Eclipse of the Moon on the afternoon and evening of the 26th May, one for children and one for adults please go to the What’s On at Gold Coast Libraries website to book at:
 
Afternoon event for children aged 10+ -
https://new.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Home?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D152505875
Evening event for adults -
https://new.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Home?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D152505158
 
Whatever way you decide to view the lunar eclipse, have lots of fun and enjoy this Amazing astronomical event, Noeleen :-)