December 10, 2011 Total Lunar Eclipse
Despite the rain and an overcast sky, we were thankful that for a brief period of time God permitted us to have a glimpse of the Red Moon during the total eclipse of the moon last December 10, 2011.
The moon was nearly high overhead during the totality phase of the eclipse and was located in the constellation Taurus. Totality lasted for about 51 mins.
I didn’t get decent shots of the moon during this event but I was really happy to have witnessed it. 🙂
Click on the images below to see larger versions.
- First sight of the moon at 10:22 pm
- After a short while, the clouds began to move away and we had a clear view.
- Moon at totality
The red tint of the eclipsed Moon is created by sunlight first passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, which preferentially scatters blue light (making the sky blue) but passes and refracts red light, before reflecting back off the Moon. Differing amounts of clouds and volcanic dust in the Earth’s atmosphere make each lunar eclipse appear differently.
- Orion and the Red Moon at 10:56 pm
- Moon exits totality. Image taken at 11:09 pm
- Moon at 11:27 pm. Only half of the moon’s disk lies within the umbra.
- Moon at 11:51 pm. A 22 degree lunar halo formed around the moon just before it exited the umbral eclipse phase.
By the way, I observed this event together with my friend and UP AstroSoc orgmate, Bea Banzuela. We were eating a cold dinner (literally!) from the rooftop of their house in Marikina City while checking the sky and taking photos of the moon.
Bea used her sophisticated camera, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 (with telephoto lens) in capturing lunar images. Below is one of the images she took:
Image courtesy of Bea Banzuela
The lunar features in this image are more recognizable. 🙂 I love that camera! Haha! Thanks Bea, for allowing me to repost this.
“When you want something, all the universe conspire in helping you to achieve it.” – Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
My Total Lunar Eclipse Montage in Universe Today
Didn’t know that one image of mine got featured in Universe Today last October 12. 😀 Click here to view the article.
Thanks, Universe Today!
Red Moon in June: Public Stargazing and Total Lunar Eclipse Observation
The University of the Philippines Astronomical Society (UP AstroSoc) invites everyone in observing the spectacular total lunar eclipse on June 15 – 16!
After the moon got super huge last March 2011, this coming June 16 2011, the moon will once again be spectacular to watch as it turns red because of the total lunar eclipse.
The first of the two eclipses of 2011 will occur on the said date and it will start at around 1:25AM and will end at around 7AM but the fun part where it turns red will be on its totality at around 4AM.
What is more special about this eclipse is that this will be the darkest lunar eclipse in almost 100 years as the centers of the sun, the earth and the moon would nearly be on one straight line. This also means that the Moon will pass deeply through the Earth’s Umbral Shadow which will make the totality phase last about 100 minutes.
This event is open to all. Come and invite your family and friends, and witness this wonderful sky show.
Clear skies, everyone!
Observing the December 21, 2010 Lunar Eclipse from Marikina City
I and my fellow UP AstroSoc members, Aaron Misayah and Bea Banzuela observed the Partial Lunar Eclipse at Moonrise last Dec. 21, 2010 from the roof deck of Bea’s house in Marikina City.
During this observation, I took pictures using my portable Galileoscope and Kodak C813 8.0 megapixel digicam while Bea used her Canon 400D DSLR camera .
The sky was about 70-80% cloudy when we set up and the northeastern horizon was blocked with haze and big clouds. At first, we thought that we may never witness this event because the whole phase visible in the Philippines will occur at a very low altitude (below 5 deg.) and one must have a very clear eastern horizon to see the rising eclipsed moon.
At 5:44 PM, all of us become ecstatic as we turned our gaze to a bright yellowish light (which we soon recognized as the eclipsed right limb of the Moon) emerging from behind the clouds above the mountains. We were so amazed by this spectacular view that we almost forgot to take pictures of it. 😀
This ‘celestial experience‘ was indeed an early Christmas gift from above 🙂
Journey to the Stars 
