Because, why go in chronological order? More to the point however, the Eta Aquariids meteor shower is still going on for the next few days, we’re just not at peak. Not that I’m going to convince you to go out with this post, but we all know how good my luck with meteor showers is.
So I was out to do some time exposures in the quest for meteors last night, and the moon was a bit bright
This is just to let you know that another meteor shower is coming up, actually taking place as I type this, though the peak is in a few days – it is also to squeeze one more pic out of April. The Eta Aquariids is expected to peak on the night of May 5th and 6th, so feel free to make the attempt anytime in the next week or so, since the moon is cooperating this time at least.
The pic above is
I mean, you can simply look at the posts from previous years on the sidebar, there, to get these, and I can save myself the typing effort, but you’re not gonna do that, are you?
So once again, I’ll remind you that the Lyrids meteor shower is going on right now, but
A few photos sitting largely by themselves, just gotta clear some of the folder out.
Out the other night with the long lens attached, I fired off a few frames handheld at the waxing crescent (nearly half, or first quarter) moon high in the sky, adjusting focus manually each time. This one came out the sharpest, and this is a full-resolution crop from the center – that’s
If you are hoping to see some detailed and remarkable photos of this morning’s total lunar eclipse, you are in the wrong location. I mean, I can provide photos of other lunar eclipses, but not the most recent, since the conditions here made a brief foray into “execrable” before they descended into “fucked.”
This is the best that I got through the cloud
Yes, I’m aware of the total lunar eclipse due to take place in a few hours, and I am intending to pursue it (again.) However, Old Man Weather may have other ideas.
This is what it looks like out there right now, and it’s been this way for hours. It may still clear up a bit more, but if it remains like this, I’m not going to get anything worthwhile. I’ve gotten
I had this in the back of my head for a few days, just as I’ve done for several years prior, when I remember to check that is (which is infrequently.) But the setting moon was going to be just 1.1% illuminated this evening, right after sunset, and the sky was crystal clear, so I elected to try again.
Stepped out at dusk last night, then stepped back in to get the camera and shoot a couple of frames.
Well, it was more than a couple, because I was both focusing manually and freehanding the long lens, trying for an exposure that would bright out the branches against the last light in the sky I have a lot of discards. It would have been better about ten minutes
So I did indeed get out to view the occultation of Mars by the mean ol’ moon (ours, I mean, not any of the other planets’,) and even snagged a couple of video clips. The nice thing was, Mars was bright enough to be seen near the moon with only a slight overexposure of the moon itself, so that worked out acceptably well.
You can see it easily down there at the bottom,
Tomorrow night, a little after 9 PM EST (so 2 AM Jan 14 UTC – adjust as necessary,) the moon will occult Mars, pretty directly for most of the US. This will last for a little over an hour before Mars reappears again out the other side, so this is an easy thing to spot by naked eye, and a good target for telephoto lenses, small and large telescopes.
I keep making noises to this