The Blood Red Moon

[iceman]

This is the best 'total eclipse' image of the Moon I've done in the 4+ years I've been trying to photograph them.

A single 2 second exposure @ ISO1600 with the Canon 40D through the ED80.
The seeing was so steady that night.

- Large version (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/193)
- Blog: The Blood Red Moon (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2011/12/15/the-blood-red-totally-eclipsed-moon/)

Next comes the sequence, if I can find the time...

Thanks for looking.

[Astroman]

Look pretty good there Mike, I am sure your happy with that one, nice and sharp, well done.

[Matt Wastell]

Hi Mike
A super image!
It is always nice to continue to improve!

[CapturingTheNight]

Great shot Mike :thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Very nice and crisp, and great colour too! Congratulations Mike :)

[h0ughy]

telescopes make all the difference - nice work mike. camera lenses are duller and not sharp

[Peter Ward]

I'd be very happy with that. (sadly, work had me elsewhere...hence no dice with this eclipse for yours truly)

Sharp, nice dynamic range.

Nice one! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[astronobob]

Wow, thats a scorcher - In a Great Way, yep ! The Ed 80 is a great performer for full frame lunar work !
A sharp image & Top notch hue richness !

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: yep very nice pic :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[zardos123]

nice to see ya back out on the tools mike, very good shot keep em coming:thumbsup:
regards brad

[mswhin63]

Lovely sharp stuff Mike :thumbsup:

[rogerg]

Good on you Mike, looks great :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Thanks Andrew - definitely happy with it. :)


Thanks Matt. Surprisingly all the gear actually worked well on the night. I hadn't used my mount in a while and at first it just didn't turn on, but after moving the connectors around a bit it eventually came to life.
I wish I'd bothered to polar align better (I just plonked it down) so I didn't need to use the hand controller to re-centre the moon so often, but it was nice that I had no issues for once.


Thanks Greg!


Thanks Rolf. Really happy with the colour.


Yeh I agree Dave. I had a combination of extension tubes and barlows to get the Moon bigger. At the default 480 or 600mm focal length, it only takes up a small portion of the CCD but I was able to get it to fill the frame which makes it much sharper.


Thanks Pete! The challenge of a jetsetter :)


Thanks Bob. I just wish I had an 80mm hydrogen alpha filter to put on the front end ;)


Thanks Jen :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


Thanks Brad!


Thanks Malcolm. The seeing definitely helped.


Thanks Roger - did you get some yourself? It was clear over your way!

[jenchris]

The image is super crisp.
Together with 80mm and your upper atmosphere which must have been pretty stable, it's made a lovely image
It wasn't possible to get that with 8" here. too much turbulence.

[atalas]

Nice work Ice.

[orgasmictomato]

Mike, why do you have the moon orientated 90 degrees clockwise? in your photo, any reason?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orgasmictomato/6487512799/ this is my shot and it is orientated as shot, not from a telescope. Canon 5D MkII 400mm.
interested as to why the different orientation....
Jim

[iceman]

Hi Jim

I didn't rotate my photos, and I didn't orientate the camera to make them come out as seen in the sky - so it's just how I put the camera in on the night.

I didn't think about it at the time :) In hindsight it would've been good to rotate the camera to match what was seen by eye.

[mswhin63]

Yeah, I sometimes forget this as well.

[The3rdKind]

Once again Mike, you've triumphed :-)

Excellent photo mate, well done

[iceman]

Thanks John, Louie and Jen for the comments.

[clem]

Very sharp image, an absolute beauty. Telescopes, especially ED refractors, indeed do work much better than camera lenses. Except maybe an L lens from Canon? :question:

[Paul Haese]

Very nicely done Mike. Sharp and well processed. Missed this completly but maybe not on the comet.

[Dujon]

A lovely image, Mike. I admire the time and effort you and your fellow astro-photographers put in to the hobby and then, after all that, plonk them on here for all and sundry to enjoy. Thanks.

I crawled out of bed around midnight to check my local skies; totally clouded out.

I wonder who first called the moon in this condition 'blood red'. If my blood was that colour I think I'd be off to the doctor. ;)

[iceman]

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated.

I've already got some ideas for the next one but it'll be a few years before we get an opportunity for an end-to-end total eclipse again.