Naturally, serious astronomers all over the globe have been waiting for my images, what with my uber-fantastic 75-300mm telephoto lens. This of course doesn’t qualify as an observatory but I’m all about those click-bait headlines.
I had it in mind to try this eclipse on Sunday night, but it was cloudy and sort of rainy during the day, and then I just forgot until the last minute. I missed one of the best shots just before it all started when the moon was framed by the clouds, and I was just staring at it all when I went out to see if it was going to be visible.
Real astrophotography is serious and I wouldn’t even pretend to venture into that realm. Even if I was that serious, I’m obviously in the wrong climate for it and that suits me just fine.
The clouds were very busy during the eclipse, but it poked through at just the right times.
The featured image at the top of this post is a crop of the best one (above), which I got at 11:37:58 p.m. I haven’t done much to these except to blot out several areas of dust or missing pixels on the sensor (shame on me). Interesting how the eclipse not only changes the moon to the red color but removes so much of its reflective surface that some stars are visible. Obviously given the weather and the long exposure – 1.6 seconds – these aren’t Hubble-sharp but fun.