Lunar Eclipse ~ January 2019

Total Lunar Eclipse ~ January 21, 2019

The lunar eclipse of January 2019 was well seen from here in central Virginia.  There were some high clouds early in the evening, as seen on the wide angle view below, but then it cleared up almost completely and the viewing was great.  Unfortunately, there was no hint of global warming in the air that night, as it was COLD.  My fingers were getting numb after only 30 seconds or so each time I would come out and work with the camera.

My setup was a Nikon D40 piggybacked on my C8 with clock drive running; I mostly used a 105 mm Nikon lens, but also a 300 mm Nikkor, and for a few of the shots, wider angle lenses.  I put together some of the better shots below:

The clouds in the first image created the necessary backdrop for a nice lunar halo, or at least part of one, which I was able to get with a wide angle view.  The middle image shows how the Moon was just west of the Beehive cluster, M44, in Cancer; that image was with a 105mm lens, which yields a moderate level of zoom.  The montage of images is from a series of shots with my 300mm lens, which gives a pretty detailed image on the cropped sensor of the D40.

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