So, in case you were still chained in your basement and not let outside, or you just forgot, there was a lunar eclipse this past Wednesday night. It was freezing cold on my rooftop in Crown Heights, but I managed to get some decent shots over a few hours. The next full lunar eclipse won’t occur again until December 10, 2010. However, there will be a total solar eclipse - when the moon is positioned perfectly between Earth and the sun - in August of this year. But be warned; you can’t look directly at solar eclipses, unless wearing special glasses or if you want to be blinded. Hopefully I’ll have purchased a teleconverter by then so I can get some tighter shots of the moon.

Just to give a little background education: Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is perfectly positioned between the sun and a full moon, so the Earth’s shadow is cast on the moon. So how is the moon not just entirely in shadow and dark? Well, indirect sunlight can still reach the moon’s surface after it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. And why does the moon appear to have a red or orange tint to it? Well, Earth’s atmosphere filters out blue light, so the indirect light that does find its way to the moon is heavy on the red and orange end of the light spectrum, or closer to the RO of ROYGBIV. In my very distant shot of the eclipse beginning to come to an end, there are two visible light sources to the west and north of the moon. The west point is actually the planet Saturn, and those with a good telescopes last night could actually see its rings. The north point is Regalus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Anyway, here are a few of my better moon shots, including one that I assembled in Photoshop. I’ve also included a shot of the Manhattan skyline that I took when I was all mooned-out:

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