The author captured the phases of a lunar eclipse with a Nikon D5300 and Nikon 70-300mm lens at 300 mm, f/5.6, on January 20, 2019. Credit: Molly Wakeling
During the night of March 13, most of the North and South America will be treated with a total lunar eclipse, an event popularly called blood moon. The event is appropriate: the moon is thrown into a dark red, brown or orange color during all, giving it a disturbing apparition in the night sky.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is located directly behind the earth from the sun, a arrangement that occurs two or three times a year. Each given position on Earth is embellished with a total lunar eclipse every 2.5 years on average. One might think that this should happen every month to the full moon, but the orbital plan of the moon is not exactly in line with the terrestrial plane around the sun, so the alignments occur less frequently. When the moon passes only through the edges of the shadow launched by the earth, we experience a penumbral eclipse, in which the moon will obscure almost imperceptibly.
The red color of the moon is due to the way in which different colors of light disperse in the Earth’s atmosphere: the more blue wavelengths spread more than the redest wavelengths, therefore more red light is refracted on the lunar surface. The way the moon appears red and dark depends on the amount of dust and aerosols in the earth’s atmosphere at that moment. Lunar eclipses in the months and years following the main volcanic eruptions are often dark due to the volcanic ash stretched out in the atmosphere.
Unlike solar eclipses, where the totality lasts only a few minutes, the darkest phase of the lunar eclipses can last for more than an hour. For the eclipse of this month, we will enjoy 1 hour 5 minutes of all. This gives Skywatcher a lot of time to observe and take photos. During the partial phase, the bites are brought out of the moon as it slips into the shadow of the earth, crossing all its phases in just one hour. During the totality, the moon appears as if a colored velvet blanket had been placed, a beautiful and obsessive view against the black night sky. Binoculars or a telescope of any size can make the experience even more special.
For the Shutterbugs among us, a DSLR on a tripod with a release of cables will reach the best images, even if you can also try with a smartphone. Depending on how obscure the moon is during all, exhibitions of several seconds may be necessary. I often use a 70-300 mm zoom lens on top of a sky tracking device such as a polaar fox or a star adventurer of the sky, but you can also manually adjust the position of the camera on a tripod while the moon moves through the sky and maintain the exposure times short enough to avoid unleashing.
Make sure you have a clear vision of the moon in advance using the Photopills app or a planetarium app like Skysafari. You will have a lot of time during the eclipse to find the right ISO, F-Stop and exposure settings, then take a variety of test shots to make sure you get those you want. You don’t need an f/1.4 lens to take great photos of lunar eclipse; In fact, you may want to stop the goal a little to improve the appearance of the background stars and prevent you from getting too far during the partial phase. Taking photos during the eclipse and composition of a final image that shows off all phases is a fun way to share it with your friends who are clouded. I recommend resuming in Raw so that you can more easily change the images later. Use “Live View” if your camera has to focus on the moon, then register the focus and enlarge so that they do not move during the eclipse.
The lunar eclipses are absolutely worth being raised late – they may not be afraid and drama of a solar eclipse, but the velvety red button in the sky is difficult to snatch the eyes. Take many photos with your DSLR or smartphone or simply sit and enjoy the show with binoculars or just your eyes.
