Dark side of the moon

The dark side of the moon is more accurately described as the far side - but for a while the near side became a dark side as the Earth's shadow was cast across it during the eclipse.

I found there is an advantage after all in having to get up in the night to answer nature's call. At 0315 on Sunday night, the bedroom was light enough for me to see, and I realised that against expectations, the cloud had cleared and the moon was shining brightly.  So I went out to watch the eclipse, and spectacular it was too, a twice in a lifetime experience (so far), and I'm glad I made the effort.

It is so long since I've used the camera in the dark that it took a fair amount of fumbling to set it up with big Len and a tripod. In the freezing cold in the small hours, my brain works very slowly, and I failed dismally to get a respectable photo of the fully eclipsed red moon. So this one of the last few moments of illumination will have to do, and even here there is some slight movement of the moon on a 1/4 second exposure. Had my brain been working I would have dialled in a much higher ISO. I might also have thought of trying the Lumix bridge camera with its night setting, and dispensed with all the glassware and hardware. But it's a record of a rare phenomenon.

It does remind me though, that there are times when leaving the camera behind and simply enjoying a visual spectacle is preferable to faffing about with a camera and missing the pleasure of the moment. I think I got it right on this occasion, I did take some time to stand and stare, though I did get very cold feet. When I got up again to take Gus out, the sky was covered in cloud again. What a gift that it cleared for the eclipse.

Posted on Tuesday 22 January 2019.