Is anyone awake anough .... lunar eclipse?

[teamsaint]

Did you try using a photo editing tool to see the moon in your photos? Some of mine came out appearing completely black until I tried pushing the exposure in a post processing tool. I wasn't trying to cheat, just to see if there was anything there at all. Once part of the moon became lit up again, it was easier, but the red effect wasn't so obvious either. Could be worth checking yours.

I might give it a bash Dave, If I get anything worthwhile I'll post it.

[ardcarp]

The point about the supermoon thing is that the moon is closer to us, so will seem bigger. However this is a different effect from seeing the moon low down, when sometimes it seems to be huge - possibly due to refraction, and possibly just our perception comparing the size of the moon with other terrestrial objects - maybe a bit of both.

I went out with Mrs A and one g-daughter at 3.30am and got a very good view. It was reddish-orangeish and did not bathe the countryside in bright light as a normal full moon would have done.

However, as I drove home earlier last evening and saw the full moon heaving itself aloft over the hills....that was spectacular, and it looked huge. The eclipse was rather tame by comparison!

BTW, when did the 'supermoon' expression start being used to describe the moon at its apogee? I don't remember the expression in my youth.

[Dave2002]

BTW, when did the 'supermoon' expression start being used to describe the moon at its apogee? I don't remember the expression in my youth.

Apparently in 1979 by an astrologer. The dreaded media have picked it up since - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon

[vinteuil]

... sadly, have to say I was rather underwhelmed by the eclipse. Driving east across Ealing Common at about 7:30pm the moon was indeed huge and impressive – but getting up bleary-eyed sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning for the usual reason, looked out of the bathroom window and saw the orangeish-greyish moon, which was obviously doing what it was supposed to be doing, but small and not really startling at all. The photos available on-line much more impressive than the ‘real thing’. Readers of Henry James will remember that fakes are often more impressive than the Real Thing...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Thing_(story)

[ardcarp]

.

. sadly, have to say I was rather underwhelmed by the eclipse. Driving east across Ealing Common at about 7:30pm the moon was indeed huge and impressive – but getting up bleary-eyed sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning for the usual reason, looked out of the bathroom window and saw the orangeish-greyish moon, which was obviously doing what it was supposed to be doing, but small and not really startling at all.

My feelings exactly.....

[David-G]

BTW, when did the 'supermoon' expression start being used to describe the moon at its apogee? I don't remember the expression in my youth.

Perigee?

I must say I am impressed. Getting up at 4 in the morning to see an eclipse is already quite a feat. But then to post to the R3 Forum at such a time requires serious dedication!

I saw the eclipse at about 04.10. Deep dusky red with a lighter edge on one side. I got some passable photos by jamming my fingers against the window pane for a one-second exposure, focussing on infinity, and using -3 exposure compensation.

[Stillhomewardbound]

... sadly, have to say I was rather underwhelmed by the eclipse. Driving east across Ealing Common at about 7:30pm the moon was indeed huge and impressive – but getting up bleary-eyed sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning for the usual reason, looked out of the bathroom window and saw the orangeish-greyish moon, which was obviously doing what it was supposed to be doing, but small and not really startling at all. The photos available on-line much more impressive than the ‘real thing’. Readers of Henry James will remember that fakes are often more impressive than the Real Thing...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Thing_(story)

I'm inclined to agree. We live in such media hyped times.

The early part of the eclipse I was impressed by, particularly at the 30/40% mark, when one realised that one was looking at the shadow of the earth on the moon. A little like seeing one's image in the mirror.

However, the later stages, from where I was observing was just a question of the moon in shade.

I had seen it better, I'm sure, when I was about 14 ('76ish) and watched it from my mother's bedroom window with my sister. At that time it took place at a more sociable 10pm. Also, the moon seemed much larger in the sky and was a rich, warm red at the full eclipse.

[Pabmusic]

At A Lunar Eclipse

Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.

How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?

And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?

Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?

Thomas Hardy

[Anastasius]

Got up. Saw it. Went back to sleep.

Wondered what all the fuss was about.

[ardcarp]

At A Lunar Eclipse

Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.

How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?

And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?

Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?

Thomas Hardy

Thanks for that Pabs. Hardy (who I think thought himself more poet than novelist) has always seemed under-rated for his verse. Is it because of the pervading melancholia? Wm Barnes's dialect poems are more fun, especially when read with a (fast disappearing) West Dorset accent.

Post #21. Well, apogee, perigee, David-G, sat-a-gee, all very Gilbertian! (Sorry for my ignorance...that's an apologee )

[David-G]

Well, apogee, perigee, David-G, sat-a-gee, all very Gilbertian! (Sorry for my ignorance...that's an apologee )

!!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Perigee?

Thanks, chum!

[ardcarp]