Jan 27, 2019 - Supermoon Total Eclipse
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We are staying on St. George Island in northern Florida for January and February. Last Sunday, January 20, there was a rare night sky event; a supermoon total eclipse. The full Moon was at its closest distance to the Earth, so it looked larger than normal and was therefore called a supermoon. Also, the Earth passed squarely between the Sun and the Moon, causing the eclipse. I began the evening by photographing the full Moon coming up beside the St. George Island Lighthouse at about 6:15 p.m.
Around 11:30 p.m. the total eclipse was about to begin. This is an interesting shot. A small part of the Moon is still getting direct, white light from the Sun. The rest of the Moon is receiving light that is bent around the Earth. Most of it appears red because the light is traveling through the part of our atmosphere which filters out the other colors. According to the website spaceweather.com, the small band of blue comes from light traveling through the ozone layer which absorbs the red and lets the blue show through.
About 3 minutes after midnight, the eclipse was almost at its maximum. Here in Florida, the Moon was directly overhead at this stage. My camera was on my tripod and pointed straight up in the air. The viewfinder was so close to the base of the tripod that I had great difficulty looking through it. As a result, I didn’t get this photo focused very well. You can still get a feel for how red the Moon was at this stage of the eclipse.
Here’s a composite view of the eclipse from beginning to full. These photos were taken about 10 minutes apart. I planned to finish taking the last half of the eclipse but was having too much difficulty because the Moon was directly overhead. I did get a full set of Moon eclipse photos in 2015. Here’s a link to that set of shots.
https://www.earlorfphotos.com/Pictures-of-the-Week/2015-Pictures-of-the-Week/Oct-4-2015-Lunar-Eclipse/
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