Fast forward about one year later to December 10th, 2011, and the celestial alignment was just right for another lunar eclipse visible from the western portion of North America, as well as the Pacific region, Australia, and across eastern Asia.
Los Angeles was positioned to be able to catch the first half of the eclipse, as the Moon would set at sunrise while fully eclipsed. The Moon would begin to enter the Earth's umbra at 4:45am, PST, and be fully eclipsed at 6:05am. Sunrise would occur about 45 minutes later.
Last week, the weather in Southern California was fantastic with very clear skies and crisp, cool temperatures. Conditions were so good that, for three days in a row last week, I was able to easily see the Green Flash as the Sun set over the Pacific Ocean as seen from my town of Hermosa Beach.
Here's a shot from my Samsung Focus, taken last week, at just about the right moment (no magnification)...
At any rate, the early weather forecasts for Saturday, December 10th, were good; but, by late last week, forecasts were calling for some light clouds to move in Friday afternoon and into Saturday morning as a storm from the Gulf of Alaska is currently headed in our direction (moving in late tonight and into tomorrow as I write this post). I watched the Saturday forecasts with a little bit of uneasiness, but the forecasts did say that early morning would still be good. There were some high cirrus clouds in abundance as I set up my telescope on my deck after sunset on Friday, but the forecasts indicated clearing by about 4am or so on Saturday.
After the Moon rose on Friday evening, there was an easily seen Moon halo (due to ice crystals high in the Earth's atmosphere). The presence of a halo indicated that conditions would not be as transparent, or as clear as earlier in the week.
I awakened at 4:00am on Saturday. There were still a few scattered cirrus clouds about, but the sky was generally clear. A few cirrus clouds were present near the Moon until about 5:00am or so, but were never a big factor. I started observing the Moon through my 6" Dobsonian telescope at about 4:30am or so, as the Moon was deep into the earth's penumbra at this point. I started shooting pictures at about 4:40am or so, merely by using my Canon Power Shot through the eyepiece (the Moon is the only astronomical object where you can actually get away with this and produce good pictures).
A full Moon is not much to look at through a telescope, by the way, because the lighting is so flat. However, deep into the penumbra, the Earth is covering the Sun sufficiently such that the sunlight striking the Moon is coming from an asymmetrical light source; hence, you begin to see the Moon take on a three dimensional apperance. This picture shows the Moon just before it enters the umbra, which will appear from the lower right.
The Moon subsequently progressed into the umbra.
After the Moon was about halfway into the umbra, I started to adjust my camera's shutter speed, trying to capture the red light on the eclipsed portion of the Moon (caused by sunlight refracting through the Earth's atmosphere and subsequently striking the Moon).
Higher magnification
My video clips...
Totality
As the Moon was setting, dawn was progressing on the opposite side of the sky. The Moon became progressively harder to see and the sky was simply not transparent enough for me to be able to see the much heralded "selenehelion" event, a rarity. I lost track of the eclipsed Moon when it was about three or four degrees above the horizon (the low hills of Malibu from my location in Hermosa Beach).
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