View Full Version : Total Lunar Eclipse, Aug 28th
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 01:17 PM
My T Pimp's post about the two moons reminded me... There is a total lunar eclipse that should be entirely visible in Utah the early morning of August 28th.
Anyone interested in having a little photography get together and we'll make some images? This happens very rarely, so I'm planning on shooting it.
Wuddya say?
gonzo
08-21-2007, 01:25 PM
I'd be up for it. Do you have any particular place in mind? I've never (successfully) shot the night sky before, so I don't have any location ideas.
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 01:30 PM
We could try the West Desert... Or out Park City direction, to get away from the lights a bit. The best spot in Utah is Goblin Valley, but not realistic for working class heros.
Good thing though, is that the moon is really easy to shoot, until it goes into totality. Then it gets a little tricky trying to get the moonshine. But I still think it can be shot from within the valley somewhere. Just pray for a clear night.
How about from the Arch? Or are you guys too far from there?
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 02:30 PM
Which arch you thinking?
Which arch you thinking?
The "Delicate" one.
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 02:57 PM
The "Delicate" one.
Oh yeah... I've heard of that one. :lol8:
Yeah, I'm assuming this will be a city boys type of party. I have to be to work at 7 that morning, so can't be too far away. Arches is 3 hours from me.
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 02:59 PM
BTW, this is what we are after:
http://www.mreclipse.com/LEphoto/TLE2000Jan/TLE00-Trio2w.JPG
http://www.mreclipse.com/LEphoto/TLE2000Jan/TLE2000umbra2w.JPG
I have to be to work at 7 that morning, so can't be too far away. Arches is 3 hours from me.
That's too bad, work gets in the way of everything. :haha:
Scott Card
08-21-2007, 03:16 PM
Wo baby, what lens/ set up are you going to be using?
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 03:18 PM
Hmm... Not sure yet. But I'll probably bring out the big gun. A 400mm 2.8 on my 5D. Maybe with a 1.4x extender.
On a second camera, probably a 50 or 85 set up to do a time lapse with some foreground interest.
Scott Card
08-21-2007, 03:20 PM
I can't wait to see the photos.
gonzo
08-21-2007, 03:22 PM
Umm...I'll have my P&S Canon S3IS. I'm going to feel like less of a man next to Carpey.
Scott Card
08-21-2007, 03:31 PM
Just wear your gaitors... :lol8:
waltny
08-21-2007, 05:21 PM
what time is this suppose to take place? Im on extended duty days still through out the month.
marc olivares
08-21-2007, 08:23 PM
something i found on the Nasa site
i'm totally game
my friends family has property in the west desert
he said he'll scout out this weekend to make sure there isnt any light polution.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/image/TLE2007Aug28-MDT.GIF
waltny
08-21-2007, 08:36 PM
boy am I going to have to load up caffine that day, got almost a 11 hour day work day that will start at 0545 ending with a nasty PT session in the Utah heat at 1600. Then add up getting up early for this one, might go to a pull off in weber cayon or see if I can get up top of trappers loop before the work day....
waltny
08-21-2007, 09:17 PM
disreguard, I cant seem to read very well tonight...
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 09:33 PM
UT is Universal Time, which is counted from the Meridian, or Greenwich time. I believe the eclipse starts about 1am, reaches totality at around 3:30 am, and is finished by 5am, which means the horizon will start seeing some light as the eclipse finishes. I might need to double check that though.
marc olivares
08-21-2007, 09:53 PM
lol...Dan read the picture link i posted
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 10:04 PM
:lol8: :lol8:
Sometimes pictures just make it too easy.... Wow, I guess I missed that one.
CarpeyBiggs
08-21-2007, 10:07 PM
So Marc, that will make it kinda hard for me to get back to work in time, if we head out to the West Desert... Maybe we can shoot for something on the Wasatch Front? Maybe like Eagle Mountain area, or West Mountain at the southern tip of Utah Lake (closer to me). We would be observing the western horizon, so the main light pollution would be on the opposite end of the sky. Should be good enough for the moon.
marc olivares
08-21-2007, 11:37 PM
i'm game for whatever :2thumbs:
Count me in on this one as well, sounds like another uutah gathering :2thumbs:
CarpeyBiggs
08-27-2007, 06:25 AM
Looks like we are going to be covered in clouds...
This shows that the eclipse will start at 3:52am our time.
gonzo
08-27-2007, 09:17 AM
weather.com (http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/allergies/hourbyhour/84105?begHour=22&begDay=239#Tue,%20Aug%2028) is reporting that Salt Lake will be mostly clear between 4:00 and 6:00 AM. I'm crossing my fingers.
CarpeyBiggs
08-27-2007, 09:21 AM
weather.com (http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/allergies/hourbyhour/84105?begHour=22&begDay=239#Tue,%20Aug%2028) is reporting that Salt Lake will be mostly clear between 4:00 and 6:00 AM. I'm crossing my fingers.
Hope so...
CarpeyBiggs
08-27-2007, 08:50 PM
The sky is looking purdy good right now from here in Provo. Anyone still planning on getting out tonight?
waltny
08-27-2007, 08:56 PM
Im loosely planning a trip to the fernhead trailhead in Layton(just got back) . Not sure if I can drag myself out there early enough though. If that falls through Ill find the high spot here on base and do what I can. :ne_nau:
Mtnman1830
08-28-2007, 03:17 AM
cloudy and an ancient camera, but here we go.
I can't wait to see some of the pictures...
CarpeyBiggs
08-28-2007, 05:54 AM
I got some good stuff, right up until the last half of the partial eclipse, when clouds covered it all up. But for now, I'm off to work on no sleep... Here is one in the meantime...
Doh, I thought it was going to be tonight?
RugerShooter
08-28-2007, 07:13 AM
Well, here is mine not very good but it all I could get with my camera
Nice shots , Dan. I had a really clear sky but a little too much light pollution. I set up my 60x Pentax spotting scope and enjoyed a nice show.
Saw a couple of really nice shooting stars, too.
Win
I didn't shoot it, but Abby (my wife) got up early (she always does anyway) and took a stab at it...
http://myweb.cableone.net/abbysm/pix/eclipseabby01.jpg
CarpeyBiggs
08-28-2007, 12:20 PM
Here's a collage from last night. A few clouds during the last 1/4th of the eclipse, but I was glad to get something out of it.
americanhero
08-28-2007, 03:18 PM
Here's a collage from last night. A few clouds during the last 1/4th of the eclipse, but I was glad to get something out of it.
cool pic!! :2thumbs: But how did you get this kind of collage? What technique have you used for it?
waltny
08-28-2007, 04:07 PM
Nice shots , Dan. I had a really clear sky but a little too much light pollution. I set up my 60x Pentax spotting scope and enjoyed a nice show.
Saw a couple of really nice shooting stars, too.
Win
I saw a few of those. I was getting alot of light off of I15 killing what shots I did have and the clouds :frustrated: . I got one or two decent shots early in the evening though.
waltny
08-28-2007, 05:06 PM
Here's a collage from last night. A few clouds during the last 1/4th of the eclipse, but I was glad to get something out of it.
Very nice, what mm you shoot these at? The neighbor hood of 400?
waltny
08-28-2007, 05:08 PM
I got some good stuff, right up until the last half of the partial eclipse, when clouds covered it all up. But for now, I'm off to work on no sleep... Here is one in the meantime...
Got some motion blur or auto focus issues on the middle one.... Expect better from you :nono:
J/K :cool2:
CarpeyBiggs
08-28-2007, 07:32 PM
Got some motion blur or auto focus issues on the middle one.... Expect better from you
Yep, it's because my sensor isn't small enough. A smaller sensor solves everything... :lol8:
But seriously, shooting the moon in totality is nearly impossible without special gear. It is difficult to get a shutter length short enough to stop it's movement in the sky. I think mine was .6 seconds, at ISO 5.6, ISO 1600, and I still had to stack the ones during totality to get a decent exposure, if I wanted to maintain any sharpness. Pretty much any image shot from earth with a static tripod will have the same issues. Impossible to defeat this without faster glass, or faster sensors, or photoshop trickery (stacking images).
If you really wanted to be serious about eclipse photography, you'd mount a celestron on an equatorial tracking mount, so you can the get 6 or 8 second exposures you would need to make a nice image at ISO 100 or 200 with no motion blur. But I don't have any of those lying around, so it's all about compromise.
These were shot at 420 mm (300f4 with a 1.4x), on a Rebel XTi.
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