by

David O. Darling

Tonight is the night for the big Lunar Eclipse that I have been waiting for months. I put in lots of preparation to document this event by video, regular camera and with my new digital camera. My plan was to use my new low light level TV camera to image the crater Tycho as it went through the Earth shadow to monitor how it responded as it goes into the shadow to see if this would recreate any effects seen by me during previous sunset events. I set up four telescopes the 12.5 f5 Newtonian for visual work, the SCT C8 with the television camera with low lux level also with the camcorder riding piggy back to capture the whole disk shot of the event. I also had my new 5” RFT refractor set up to take pictures through with the Sony Digital Camera DSC-P71 digital camera. I also set up my 3” refractor with the Minolta SRT 101 on a tripod to photograph the Moon with slide film. The children’s small portable telescope was also set up for viewing for themselves and visitors coming over.

The cloud cover for North America excluded about 1/3 of America from seeing the eclipse tonight. Myself being located in southern Wisconsin was blessed with clear skies.

Path of Moon through Earth Shadow Cone.

This chart indicates where the total eclipse would be visible in the World.

SCT C8 with low lux camera and Camcorder riding piggy back.

During the observing session I had to juggle my observing of the eclipse to handle the many curios friends and family  who wanted to have a look at the eclipse through a telescope. Having company come over to view the eclipse with you is part of the fun of sharing astronomy.

My daughter Rebekah and grand daughter Sasha viewing eclipse.

Neighbor boy checking out lunar eclipse.

Photograph taken at 7:16 P.M. CDT 15 May or 00:16 UT 16 May. Using Sony Digital Camera. 

Photograph taken at 7:37 P.M. CDT 15 May or 00:37 UT 16. May using Sony Digital Camera.

Photograph taken at 8:12 P.M. CDT 15 May or 01:12 UT 16. May using Sony Digital Camera.

Photograph taken at 8:53 P.M. CDT 15 May or 01:53 UT 16. May using Sony Digital Camera.

Photograph taken at 9:05 P.M. CDT or 02:05 UT 2004 May 16 with Sony Digital Camera at eyepiece projection with 25mm eyepiece using a 5" Orion RFT Refractor.

Photograph taken at 9:26 P.M. CDT 15 May or 02:26 UT 16. May using Sony Digital Camera.

Photograph taken at 9:36 P.M. CDT 15 May or 02:36 UT 16. May using Sony Digital Camera. The star HIP 75830 in Libra just below the Moon, several minutes before being occulted. 

The eclipse was very spectacular and got very dark during the mid-eclipse period with my loosing sight of the crater Tycho as it entered into the deepest part of the umbra.

I conducted a close examination of the video tape of the eclipse and detected no Lunar Transient Phenomena. I also examined the more than 100 photographs displayed on Spaceweather.com and found no anomalies or suspected L.T.P. phenomena. 

Looking forward to the next upcoming Total Eclipse which takes place in November 2003.