Bob CollinsA lunar eclipse in Minnesota is the last one we’ll see until 2010.
If you’re one of those people with nifty photographic equipment, we’d love to post your favorite eclipse photo. Use this form.
I, on the other hand, have your basic cheap digital camera, the kind you get free for subscribing to some magazine. Alas, it’ll have to do.
The Saturn-like ring is actually a twig from a tree. This was taken at 9:30 p.m., just about at the height of the eclipse.
Jered Jackson in Eden Prairie has just sent this. Nice!
And he followed it up with this beauty.
Mike Moore of St. Paul gets big style points for the following photo. He took this at 9:20. I guess I should’ve asked for lens and shutter specifics for those people who have nice cameras. I can see that the contributors know what they’re doing around cameras.
Michael Custard’s contribution. Taken in St. Paul. Apparently the city lights offer no barrier here.
St. Paul seems to be “eclipse central.” Sara Kim, of St. Paul, writes “I took this picture in St. Paul at 8:17 p.m. I was amazed that it turned out! I have a pretty nice camera but am far from a professional! I somehow had a very steady hand in the freezing temps! The other eclipse pictures are fabulous! Thanks for posting them. And thanks for the great blog.” And here’s her picture:
I’d love to see a picture or two taken in the rural parts of the state.
In South Minneapolis, Andrew Fetzer proved that you can stay warm and still get off a good shot. He took this picture through his living room window.
Also from South Minneapolis, Terence Brashear. Note the copyright notice:
Say, why do we see a red moon when it’s in the shadow of the earth? Why do we see it at all? According to Astronomy.com:
The atmosphere acts like a filtered lens. It bends red sunlight into our planet’s shadow and scatters out blue light. It’s the same reason why sunrises and sunsets appear reddish. If Earth were an airless planet, its shadow would be pitch black and the eclipsed moon would be invisible.
The pictures are still coming in! Jimmy Hodges in Swainsboro, Georgia has sent this one:
It was taken around 9:01 central time. Terence’s was taken at 9:03. I’ve rotated Jimmy’s slightly to align the moon to the same point in both. Notice how the orientation of the part of the moon still in sunlight is slightly different? I presume the difference in geographic location of the photographer has something to do with that.
Twenty-four hours later, and they’re still coming in. Here’s one I received from Mathew Brenengen, who says he took it from his kitchen in — you guess it — St. Paul. I have no idea how you create something like this.
And here’s one from Minnetrista that makes me want to delete my top photo out of sheer embarrassment. Thanks to Michael Smart. The file info on the photo says the f6.3 and shutter speed 1/2500.
Out at the airport, something had their attention. “What is that? A plane arriving on time?” Nope, it’s the eclipse. (Thanks Julia Schrenkler)
