Last night was the “Super Blood Wolf Moon” total lunar eclipse, so named because the Moon is currently closer to the Earth (super), it was a total eclipse (blood), in January (wolf).  By the way, my favorite full moon name is “Worm Moon” in March.  I think that would make a great story title.

We just had a cold front come through, so it was cold, but perfectly clear.  This was definitely the best and longest lunar eclipse I have ever seen, and the delightful enthusiasm from my young neighbors across the street added to my enjoyment.

I considered trying to use my intervalometer to make a detailed time lapse, but I knew I’d want to play around with camera settings too much.  So I used a sequence of shots to make a time lapse slideshow.

The full Moon is basically lit like daylight.

Camera geek info:

•            Canon EOS 60D in manual mode set at f/5.6, 1/800 second exposure, ISO 100
•            Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens, set at 300 mm, manual focus
•            Tripod
•            Cable release

When the Moon was mostly eclipsed, it started to turn red.  I could either set the camera to get the detail of the lit side (and lose all the part in shadow), or set it for the shadow.  I thought the shadow picture was more interesting.

Camera geek info:

•            Canon EOS 60D in manual mode set at f/5.6, 1 second exposure, ISO 100
•            Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens, set at 300 mm, manual focus
•            Tripod
•            Cable release

When the Moon was fully eclipsed, it was dark red.  The camera picked up more color with a longer time exposure.  It was harder to focus, though, since the Moon was so dim.

Camera geek info:

•            Canon EOS 60D in manual mode set at f/5.6, 2 second exposure, ISO 100
•            Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens, set at 300 mm, manual focus
•            Tripod
•            Cable release

When the Moon was coming out of the eclipse, dew had started to settle on the camera lens, so I got an interesting effect before I went inside to warm up my cold camera. And myself.

Camera geek info:

•            Canon EOS 60D in manual mode set at f/5.6, 1 second exposure, ISO 100
•            Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens, set at 300 mm, manual focus
•            Tripod
•            Cable release