Tonight’s full moon, known as the Wolf Moon in January was also a Penumbral Eclipse. A Penumbral Eclipse is when the Earth blocks the sunlight reaching the moon’s surface, but in this instance, only a small section of the Earth’s outer shadow (known as the Penumbra) covers the moon.
If you look closely, using the moon as a clock face you will notice a darker shadow at between 4 and 5 o’clock.
In the early hours of Monday 21st January there will be the last total Lunar Eclipse until May 2021. You’ll have to either stay up late or get up early to witness the “Super Blood Wolf Moon”, the times are shown below;
I’m not sure if I’ll be grabbing some photos yet as I’ve an early start in the morning with a Digital Photography Fundamentals Workshop, but I might sneak a quick snap in the early hours.
More information can be found at Time and Date’s Website.
Here are a couple of photos I took of the last Lunar Eclipse back on 27th July this year.
{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}I remember the first time I saw a Lunar Eclipse (or at least the first time I remember seeing one!), it was on my first holiday to the Algarve which was over 30 years ago!
Although we had full visibility tonight, I was concerned that because the Eclipse started before Moon rise which was during dusk, the sky might be too bright for photography. However, I got to the top of nearby ridge and waited…..and waited…..and waited. It was a long time after Moon rise that it had risen in the sky enough to be visible here in the hills. Luckily, the sky had darkened a little too, however, not enough for a single shot. So the shot below is a merge of 2 photos taken with different exposures to ensure the moon is bright enough contrasted against the silhouetted ridge.
{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}I can’t believe how lucky we were in the Midlands this morning with the clear skies. Only right at the end did the clouds obscure the sun/moon combo which is why I’ve not got a 6th photo. You’ll notice that some of the shots are right down at f/40, never thought I’d be shooting that stopped down, but it seemed to work just fine. If you look at the first photo closely, you can see some dark Sun Spots.
This is one great thing with the Nikon D7100, it shoots at a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000sec which certainly helped today.
{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
