It’s like deja’ vu all over again! Last year there was a total lunar eclipse that occurred on January 31, 2018. That TLE was sure fun to watch and photograph. What made it enjoyable was the eclipse took place as the Moon was setting and made for some good images with the landmarks and the horizon. In fact, the moon was actually eclipsed as dawn was coming on, and it was setting at the same time. There was a lot happening. This total lunar eclipse, which occurred less than a year later was much higher in the sky. The weather was not perfect. It was cold with high thin clouds and periods of thicker cloudiness initially but as the night and eclipse wore on the sky did clear out nicely.
Posted below are images I shot of the January 20, 2019 total lunar eclipse or if you prefer the “media hyped” naming convention then it would be the “super blood wolf moon – total lunar eclipse.” Super because this full moon occurred near perigee which is when the moon is a fraction closer to Earth. Blood because total lunar eclipses take on a reddish/orange hue due to light refracting through the Earth’s atmosphere which sucks out the blue light waves and lets the red ones run free to bath the moon in blood. Finally, the January full moon is commonly called the “wolf” moon. Had this eclipse occurred in March when the full moon is known as the “worm moon,” they would have been calling it the “super blood worm moon,” or in August, the sturgeon moon. You get the idea.
Either way, I hope you were able to see this fantastic TLE yourself. That is really the best way to see it. I obtained these shots using a couple of different methods. I digiscoped some of them using a Fuji FinePix XP130 that was handheld to the eyepiece of my 10″ Meade Schmidt-Newtonian telescope and I also simply used a tripod mounted Nikon D60 with a 200mm lens.
