Lunar Eclipse right now

[MedwedianPresident]

Seeing that there is no such thread yet, I have given myself the liberty to create one destined for the discussion of the Lunar Eclipse scheduled for today.

If you want to check whether you will see it go to this link: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/globe/2018-july-27

[cubinator]

If you are in Africa, Eurasia, or Oceania you should go outside right now and look at the Moon, which is being eclipsed by Earth. Here is a map of where in the world the eclipse is visible from:

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2018-july-27

If you are like me and are on the opposite side of the world right now, I found a decent live stream of the Moon here:

Enjoy!

Edited July 27, 2018 by cubinator

[RedKraken]

hereis the nasa stream : 

 

[cubinator]

The timeanddate stream has multiple locations, so lower risk of clouds.

[YNM]

I was just about to go sleep, but...

 

Here it is !

[YNM]

I'm now trying with DSLR with tripod - this thing's not bright !

[Vanamonde]

Overlapping threads have been merged. 

[Scotius]

In Poland Moon is barely visible as a dim, red circle. Unfortunately there are some clouds and haze in the atmosphere. Conditions aren't good for observation. But i'm glad i can see anything at all

[NSEP]

I CANT SEE ANYTHING BECAUSE OF TREES AND HILLS, AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[4x4cheesecake]

Cannot see it either...too many buildings around At least, I was able to spot the ISS...

[magnemoe]

29 minutes ago, Scotius said:

In Poland Moon is barely visible as a dim, red circle. Unfortunately there are some clouds and haze in the atmosphere. Conditions aren't good for observation. But i'm glad i can see anything at all

To much sunlight here in Norway, its still daylight up in the northern parts. 
And can not spot the moon, might go for an walk but has seen it before on clear winter nights. 

[Scotius]

Aaaannnndddd... a storm rolled in All i can see now are flashes of lightning. But i'm not complaining I love night storms. They are great shows in their own right.

[Urus28]

Great after several days of infernal heat now is the only day with strong could cover.... I tried to move to other places the sky is blocked everywhere in my area.

[LordFerret]

Two hours to moon rise here. Tempted to go down to the beach and catch it rising over the Atlantic, but... rain and clouds.

[Reactordrone]

Backyard shot about half an hour before the middle of the eclipse.

 

 

And Moon and Mars

[YNM]

The DSLR worked fine, but apparently my attempt to transfer it from the microSD via an android phone was futile...  it seem to reset the microSD card !

I got a few more shots after but this is going to be really hard to salvage !

[YNM]

... and finally I'm able to extract the pictures.

It's really difficult trying to properly focus on the moon through a DSLR...

[Reactordrone]

4 hours ago, YNM said:

 

It's really difficult trying to properly focus on the moon through a DSLR...

Used to be easier with manual only lenses. You could just crank them all the way over and they'd be focused to infinity. Auto focus lenses have overruns so the motors don't hit a hard stop so it can be better to pre-focus them, switch the lens to manual focus and try not to touch them when you use them

[YNM]

On 7/28/2018 at 5:32 PM, Reactordrone said:

You could just crank them all the way over and they'd be focused to infinity.

Except the Moon is not at infinity, you can easily feel for this from a telescope. Not so much from an autofocus DSLR.

[mikegarrison]

I am not a camera person, but I've got a friend who takes gorgeous clear shots of the moon with his DSLR. So I know it's possible.

[Green Baron]

Here's a how-to for dslrs :-)

- switch off stabilizers, use the timer and mirror lockup. This is to avoid any inferred blurriness from finger or vibrations while on the tripod.

- choose manual focus (or some "remember" function of the electronics). Better equipment has a switch at the camera and/or objective. This is for keeping the once chosen focus.

- choose an aperture one or two below the maximum of the lens (e.g. 4 or 5.6 if the maximum is 2.8). This is for optimal sharpness and to avoid vignetting.

- focus on something in the very distance. For a telelens this should be many many (>100) km away, or stars if available. Usually not as you build your equipment during sunset when there is still light.

- don't touch the focus or aperture any more until end of the session. If you need to vary do this with exposure time or if you must with iso setting. Mind air movement in the atmosphere. This is ... hard to keep up.

 

If you want to take photos from another object in the meantime, come back another day or bring 2 cameras ;-) Not a joke :-)

Edited July 30, 2018 by Green Baron

[YNM]

I know it's definitely possible, but :

1. I didn't even set up anything until mere minutes before U3 (when someone on a chat asked about it and I bothered to check);

2. My eyes were definitely not the best (I was about to go sleeping, I wear a glasses, I wasn't adapted to night vision and the viewfinder focus has been touched a bit).