Lunar Eclipse in Southern Illinois.

 Lost internet connection last night so a delay in getting these pictures out.  Shot at 37 deg 45 min north, 90 deg 10 west last night.

Started about 930 local time and maxed out after 11pm.  Then bed for me.

Thank goodness for clear skies.

Not bad for a Panosonic DMC-ZS40, f/6/4, 1/4 second.

Oh yeah, Illinois has the 19th largest economy in the world.

Astro-tourism

Thjere are a lot of themes under this title, so let me start by looking at eclipse tourism.  Last summer, I had a chance to observe te eeclipse from my front yard.

And then there is night time astronomical events, like a lunar eclipse. How about the northern lights?

The challenge for night time events is to find a place dark enough to see the sky.  This website will help.

In the meantime, move away from the city to a place away from stray light pollution and enjoy watching the skies at night.

Lunar Eclipse the other night

tried out my new camera to capture the eclipse.  Think I left it on auto focus so that is the reason for the blur.  Open aperture, 15 second exposure on tripod after a timed shutter release.

wow, the Lunar Eclipse on the Winter Solstice

Just got back inside after watching the moon disappear in the shadow of the Earth. Yep, a total lunar eclipse. We have some clouds out right now, and earlier there was a halo around the moon when I left Springfield Massachusetts about 9 pm.

We got up, I tried to video tape the beginning of the action and then retreated to the hot tub to enjoy the show. Fortunately the trees are without leaves so we had a great view of the event.

Well, now I am waterlogged and all "pruney".

This video is purely amateurish, but it is at least an attempt to record this event. Remember, I was half asleep.

Lunar Eclipse 21 Dec 2010

Lots of traffic on the web to get to NASA's website for the Lunar Eclipse tomorrow night. Should be a great show for us on the East Coast. See this website for a virtual showing just in case it is cloudy where you are:

http://www.mreclipse.com/LEdata/TLE2010Dec21/TLE2010Dec21.html

A double whammy for the winter solstice!