This video was created by taking a series of 53 stills at about 5 minute intervals through an Olympus E510 DSLR at the prime focus of my 120 mm f/5 refractor in Waterford, VT. Exposures ranged from about 1/2000 sec for the brightest full moon to 2 sec for totality. The images were aligned and rotated, and adjusted for brightness and contrast.
The telescope mount lost its calibration near the middle of totality, and I didn't dare take the time to re-calibrate; thus some of the long-exposure images ended up a bit blurry. Notice that the angles of the shadow at the start of the eclipse and at the end of the eclipse differ. Most of the motion is due to the moon moving through the shadow of the earth, and the diameter of the earth's shadow is about 4 times larger than the moon. The moon did not pass through the middle of the shadow - if you think of the shadow as a clock face, then the moon entered the shadow at about "2:30" on the face (edge of shadow almost vertical) and left the shadow at about "7:00" on the face (edge of shadow almost horizontal). This off-center trajectory also led to the bright glow around the lower edge of the moon during totality. (Bill Vinton)
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CHANGE IN DATE FOR INTERNATIONAL OBSERVE THE MOON NIGHT - NOW SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7th AT 7 PM! NKAF and the Peacham Library are co-sponsoring our own local version of "International Observe the Moon Night" on FRIDAY, October 7th, starting at 7 PM - the weather maps tell us that Saturday looks rainy and Friday clear! We'll have telescopes and binoculars and refreshments. Please check here for late breaking weather news. Friday looks great right now, but this is New England, so keep posted! The official website for IOMN is http://observethemoonnight.org/, which includes an "Activities" link which you might find interesting. There are many moon maps available online, but here is a link to one of our favorites: http://bit.ly/MapoftheMoon In addition, go to www.skymaps.com and download their September and October sky maps! Each includes information on interesting objects to observe - well worth the effort for your own observing! We hope to see you on October 7th. Again, check these pages and our Facebook page for late-breaking weather news! |
Entries written by NSO Docents and EducatorsOperators of the NSO and teachers in local high school and middle schools. Archives
March 2024
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