On August 27, 2026 a very deep (96.2%) partial lunar eclipse was visible from my driveway in Friendswood, Texas.

Since I had just used the SeeStar my amazing co-workers gave me as a retirement gift to make a video of the preceding total solar eclipse, I thought it would be fun to make a video of the matching lunar eclipse.

Solar eclipses have a paired lunar eclipse either two weeks before or two weeks after the solar eclipse (or sometimes both!).  The two week timing is because solar eclipses happen when the Moon is new and lunar eclipses happen when the Moon is full.  They occur together because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is tilted relative to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, so the three bodies only “line up” when the Moon’s orbit crosses the Earth’s orbit, which happens twice a year.  There is a band of time around the time the Moon’s orbit crosses the Earth’s orbit where the three bodies come close enough to lining up that eclipses occur.  Depending on the timing of the crossing relative to the phase of the Moon, the lunar eclipse can be before the solar eclipse, after the solar eclipse, or both.

Developing clouds were predicted for the eclipse period, but the sky started out clear, and I was able to set up my SeeStar and get it focused on the Moon.  I started making a time lapse video and went back inside.  During the time lapse, several clouds drifted in front of the Moon; I cut those frames from the video.  When the max eclipse was about to occur, I went outside to have another look.  As I’ve seen before, the dynamic range of a camera does not match the dynamic range of the amazing human eye.  So the tiny sliver of sunlit Moon was visible in the images, but the remaining red Moon was not.  I adjusted the SeeStar exposure to try to better expose the darker part of the Moon.  As part of that, I tried to refocus the SeeStar, which was a mistake because I don’t think the focus was as good.  And at one point – oops – I way overexposed it.  Then the clouds rolled in, so I packed up the SeeStar and brought it back inside.

Near maximum eclipse, I texted several friends to make sure that they also got to go out and see it – living up to my motto “Find Wonder and Share It!”

Have you shared any wonder lately?

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