This Morning's Lunar Eclipse

[Roger Clark]

The lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011 occurred with the moon just entering total eclipse as the Moon set over the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. This image was obtained at 6:48 AM, 22 minutes before sunrise and 17 minutes before the beginning of totality.


Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 300 mm f/2.8 L IS lens. Exposure: f/6.3, ISO 100, two frame exposure high dynamic range: 1/10 and 1-second. Full frame image, no crop. Combined in photoshop, processing with curves, no noise reduction.

Roger

[annmpacheco]

Thank you Roger, this is a most beautiful landscape and phenomena... wish I understood more about this other world that you so exquisitely captured. The light , colors, and majesty is "Over the moon!" Ann

[adrian dancy]

One word....wonderful!

[allanrube]

Great color adds a lot to this excellent composition of a natural event.

[Norm Dulak]

Terrific, Roger. It's beautiful.

I asked a friend in California who is into amateur astronomy whether he had seen the eclipse. Surprisingly, he said there was no way he was getting up that early!

[Grady Weed]

I knew I could count on you Roger to get an image of the eclipse! Well done.

[Brendan Dozier]

Beautiful composition, Roger, and nicely executed. Great looking moon, colors, and the ribbon of clouds across the peaks is a nice touch and adds to the whole mood. Well done!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Love the colors and comp!

[Robert Amoruso]

Figured you be posting one of these Roger and I agree, exceptionally well done.

[Jay Gould]

Roger, it is exquisite!! How far from home did you travel to accomplish the capture?

[Roger Clark]

Roger, it is exquisite!! How far from home did you travel to accomplish the capture?

Hi Jay,

Straight line distance was a little under 10 miles (15 km). It took about 15 minutes. In retrospect, I should have gotten up earlier and gone further, about a 45 minute drive where the atmosphere would have been steadier at 10,000 feet (I just didn't know how snowy the roads were that high). This image was made at 7700 feet elevation.

Roger

[Craig Kerr]

Well planned and executed Roger... Fabulous

[Morkel Erasmus]

Fine work Roger! Very ethereal...
I am curious about the magenta/purple hue...is that a natural phenomenon with eclipses? Or was it a specific look-and-feel you were after during capture/processing?

[Roger Clark]

Fine work Roger! Very ethereal...
I am curious about the magenta/purple hue...is that a natural phenomenon with eclipses? Or was it a specific look-and-feel you were after during capture/processing?

Hi Morkel,

I assume you mean on the moon itself. The light from the eclipsed moon is due to light transmitted and refracted through the Earth's atmosphere, and depending on the dust/smoke/haze in the atmosphere on a global scale the color changes from eclipse to eclipse or position (this eclipse was through the southern portion of the shadow, so biased by light transmitted through the Earth's southern hemisphere),and the color varies from gray-ish-red to orange, to red like a really red sunset. Then for this eclipse where I was, add blue from the brightening blue sky of twilight, giving the magenta cast on both the moon and on the snow on the mountains.

Roger

[Gary Esman]

One fantastic shot Roger, love the colors!

Gary.