Glimpse of the Blood Moon last night from a Melbourne backyard. Fascinating to see the stars so close to the moon. Not as clear as I would of liked as there was a bit of light cloud about. I see a bit of camera movement in the stars, which surprises me as I used a tripod with wireless shutter release (3 second delay).

[Bob Harris]

cool shot Bruce, how long was the exposure.

[Bruce Clark]

cool shot Bruce, how long was the exposure.

Thanks Bob

ISO 1250
f9
2.5 Sec

[AussieTrev]

Pretty good shot. Missed it here on the Northern Tablelands, raining.

[Bruce Clark]

Pretty good shot. Missed it here on the Northern Tablelands, raining.

Thanks.

Lucky to get it here too, with some a fair bit of cloud about. I very nearly gave up in disgust. I missed the last one too because of poor weather. Only have to wait a 3 years for the next one.

[Ex Finn.]

Nice capture, not visible from here.

[AuraTodd]

What causes a blood moon?

[Bruce Clark]

Nice capture, not visible from here.

Thank you

What causes a blood moon?

During eclipse the moon is dimly lit by sunlight shining through the earth's atmosphere. The redness is similar to that seen at sunset as the blue end of the spectrum is filtered out. The effect is stronger as the sunlight passes through the whole atmosphere.

[AuraTodd]

Thanks I never knew that

[dms]

A minor clarification on the blue light "filtered" out--actually it is scatered more and thus is not a significant part of the direct light. This happens during the day and is why we see a blue sky, and when the moon is very low on the horizon the atmosphere depth is so large (order of magnitude greater than mid-day) as to affect the whiteness of the light.

[slowpez]

Thanks for the info on the blood moon and thanks for sharing the image. It is beautiful.

[RobG]

Great shot, Bruce! Sadly all of mine were blurred. The tripod just isn't solid enough for the weight of the K3 and DA*300.

[RobA_Oz]

Great shot, Bruce! Sadly all of mine were blurred. The tripod just isn't solid enough for the weight of the K3 and DA*300.

I only managed the start of the eclipse before the cloud cover totally obscured it. However, thanks to this opportunity I've found the combination of my cheap Chinese gimbal mount for balance and the Pentax FLUcard for remote monitoring and operation handles my K-3 with the A 400 with no such problems.

I agree, though, Bruce: nice work!

[PhotoHeron]

Nice capture.

[Bruce Clark]

A minor clarification on the blue light "filtered" out--actually it is scatered more and thus is not a significant part of the direct light. This happens during the day and is why we see a blue sky, and when the moon is very low on the horizon the atmosphere depth is so large (order of magnitude greater than mid-day) as to affect the whiteness of the light.

Thank you for the explanation

---------- Post added 09-04-15 at 04:57 PM ----------

Great shot, Bruce! Sadly all of mine were blurred. The tripod just isn't solid enough for the weight of the K3 and DA*300.

I have some blur too as my exposure was a bit long. Learning al lthe time

Thanks for the info on the blood moon and thanks for sharing the image. It is beautiful.

Thank you.

I only managed the start of the eclipse before the cloud cover totally obscured it. However, thanks to this opportunity I've found the combination of my cheap Chinese gimbal mount for balance and the Pentax FLUcard for remote monitoring and operation handles my K-3 with the A 400 with no such problems.

I agree, though, Bruce: nice work!

Thanks, it was touch and go here with only a few minutes of clear sky. Interesting sounding rig you have. I might have to rattle the money box again. I just raided it for the K5 IIs

Nice capture.

Thank you