Lunar Eclipse

Last night(or rather this morning), I had the chance to see a total lunar eclipse here in Ohio. I have always had a passing interest in Astronomy and the things you could see in the sky at night. Usually its too overcast to see the events here, or they require total darkness for optimal viewing, and living in Akron total darkness at night is hard to come by...plus if you are somewhere in total darkness in the AK-ROWDY, you should probably find some light with a quickness.

On my way home from work, I was impressed with how clear the sky was and the brilliance the moon was shining with. I was hopeful that the skies would stay nice until the eclipse started at about 4:50am with totality occurring about an hour later.

When my alarm went off at 4:30 I questioned my sanity, but reasoned if the sky wasn't cooperating, I'd be back in bed while my spot was still warm. When I looked out the window, the moon was just as clear as it was 5 hours previous, so I went downstairs to watch.

The eclipse was a slow-moving process, but it was great to watch. And when the earth passed completely between the sun and moon, there was a neat reddish glow the moon took on. I mounted my camera on a tripod to try and get some clear shots, and out of the 26 I took, a few were keepers. Eclipse pics. I don't have a fancy rig, and I'm sure I could have tweaked the settings to get some better shots, but I was happy with the point-and-shoot results I got.

Once totality occurred, the pre-dawn light was coming on the eastern sky and started to wash out any good viewing of post totality, but what I did see was well worth the sleep I lost.

One day I hope to be in the path of totality for a total solar eclipse. That would be neat.