Photography Contest: Special Edition

[Pico]

I know Hell No... usually takes care of these, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to toss this up here.

 

Most of you are in the northern hemisphere and will be treated to the lunar eclpise late this Monday night/early Tuesday morning. This is a special one seeing as how it falls on the Winter Solstice, which is when the Earth is at the farthest orbit from the sun and it's tilt is point away for us in the Northern Hemisphere.This hasn't happend since the 1600s!

 

As you guess it, the topic for this special contest is the lunar eclipse! So get out there this Monday/Tuesday night/morning and get some beautiful shots of the moon! I'm aware not everyone will be able to do this, so to keep it fun (and from completely dying), anything doing with the night sky is acceptable.

 

Please post if you're in on this so I can gauge interest.

 

If you're curious as to why this is anything special:

The sun will be blocking all light from hitting the moon. No, it doesn't disappear! What happens is the light from the sun is curved around the Earth by it's atmosphere. When the moon hits the umbra of the refracted light it turns it a reddish-orange color, resulting in a stunning, surreal effect! Makes for awesome pictures!

 

The last time this event happened I didn't have my nice big zoom lens. I plan on hiking up the mountain nearby that night to get some great picture, hopefully! Also, hope no scorpions will be out, lol. Maybe I should invest in a black light to light them up, hah!

 

Schedule of events in Universal Time/GMT, December 21st, 2010:

05:29:17 UT, penumbral eclipse

06:32:37 UT, partial eclipse

07:40:47 UT, beginning of total eclipse

08:16:57 UT, peak of total eclipse

And of course, it fades out basically equally from there.

 

To find out if you'll see it, check this link:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm..._2010-12-21.png

North America it will be straight up in the sky, Europe it'll be in the west setting, and it will be rising for those in Australia, Asia and Russia. I wish I had a rising or setting one so I could get some landscape in, looks like I'll have to incorporate stars well.

 

To find out when, go here and recalculate the hours given above :

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

 

For more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2010_lunar_eclipse

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar-e...er-21-2010.html

Edited December 20, 2010 by Pico

[Tyler]

Pico, this is a great idea! Can't wait to see the turn-out, and I hope you all enjoy the sights.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Unoriginal44

[rhyn]

Interesting idea, it's on my birthday but if I'm not drunk/busy I'll give it a go.

[The Guru]

Ahh damn. The eclipse shows here at around 11 on Tuesday morning but I'll be at school getting my report card.

[Mark]

Not even sure if it'll be visible here. 8.16am is after sunrise here for one so it'll be pretty lame, especially with all that atmosphere in the way, not to mention it's currently due to be snowing at that time so may not see the moon at all. Still, I'll give it a go.

[geomy]

I don't have a tripod, or I would be in on this, too. Maybe if I can hold my breath and be really still...

 

I just want to make sure I catch this with my son - his favorite word is moon, and he always looks for it when we go outside. Should be interesting to watch him watch it disappear.

[Pico]

It doesn't actually disappear, it fades to black then quickly returns an orange-red or amber color. Definitely cool to see though, if he's as fascinated as you say im sure he'll love it.

 

Really cloudy today, starting to worry that it'll be too much to see the moon let alone get any good pictures. But its early in the day still, so hopefully it'll change as I don't want to miss this.

 

edit:

f*ck! WAY too cloudy out. I can see the glow of the moon... if I were to take pictures it'd just be a blob of orange in the sky. That might look cool if I had scenery in the foreground, but the orientation in the sky is completely straight up as I said before, so it's worthless for me. I'll be up for another hour or two for sure, so if it clears up I'll see what I can do. Chances are, I'm screwed here.

Edited December 21, 2010 by Pico

[Mark]

I saw sweet FA this morning. Majorly overcast. No entry from me!

[Pico]

Nothing from me either.

Damn weather ruined it of course... I went to bed after a 1/3rd of the partial eclipse which was extremely clouded out. Found out the whole total eclipse was covered by a gigantic cloud, so I'm glad I didn't lose and sleep over it. But, very disappointed. Especially after seeing some pics of it already...

 

Remember, this can be anything involving the night sky. So... it's not a total bust, right? I'll see if I can get anything like that up and if anyone else posts anything we'll make a voting thread for it.

[Mainland Marauder]

 

Here's the best I could do, and I had to drive 45 minutes toward the coast where it was a little clearer.....at times. Needed ~6 second exposure and there was never that long before at least a little wisp of cloud passed across the moon.

[geomy]

Yeah, the low clouds blocked out most of the show here, too...It was perfectly clear up until showtime, then thicker and thicker fog kept rolling in. Thanks for sending it this way, MM.

[Mainland Marauder]

Thanks geomy.

 

You're in Texas too? I'm in Houston. Had to drive closer to the coast (League City, where my sister lives) to even get something that good. In the city it was too thick.

[geomy]

A couple hours down the coast, just north of Corpus Christi, though I should be moving to San Antonio sometime near the beginning of next year.

 

 

It seems like the skies had been so good to us this year; for the last few meteor showers, my wife and I drove out to the beach and watched under clear, moonless skies. I guess you can't win 'em all...or something?

[Pico]

Well, a poll isn't necessary, lol. Mainland, you win

 

Sorry this was a bust, everyone. Next time I'll do more work checking on the weather. Like this handy weatherman.