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Monday, September 28, 2015

A Glimpse of the Lunar Eclipse

The last week has been glorious. The sky has been a deep blue with almost no clouds in it. The aspens have become more and more brilliant, looking gorgeous against the sky.
Shyla and I have enjoyed beautiful bike rides together, soaking up the fleeting autumn colors.
Then, yesterday about an hour before sunset, a bank of clouds moved in. Oh no, I thought... I'd been looking forward to my first attempt at photographing a total lunar eclipse. I'd been out around our area with a compass and the projected path of the moon, figuring out the best vantage point.

The whole pack walked to my chosen vantage point together just before moonrise. Neither of us humans dared to voice the opinion that we weren't going to see the moonrise. Finally, the Runner saw a glimmer behind the clouds, approximately 30 minutes after moonrise and even longer after the eclipse had begun. Still, I didn't have a clear view of the moon.

However, we both spotted a gap in the layers of clouds where we thought the moon just might appear, ever so briefly. And it did.
The gap was substantial enough that I could spend the time to figure out the best camera settings to get a wide view of the ridge to the east and a good exposure of the moon. Moreover, during the time that the moon was visible, the color of the clouds morphed from the post-sunset orange (in the previous photo) to the later-after-sunset pink that I love so much.
Then, after about 15 minutes of enjoying the moon view, the clouds covered it again. The rest of the pack headed for home. I, the ever hopeful photographer, lay in the grass, watching for another glimmer of the moon.

It was so peaceful lying there, gazing at the sky. I suddenly realized that a city-person would think I was crazy feeling so safe lying in my little spot in the meadow. But, I did. I trusted that the coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, elk, deer, bears, and moose would catch my scent and go around me. And they did.

I didn't glimpse the moon again. However, I was happy with what I'd managed to capture in the brief moments that the moon graced us with its face.

25 comments:

  1. Kia ora KB,
    wow! Just stunning. Didn't get the privilege on this side of the world. Kia kaha e hoa...
    Robb

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  2. We missed that here because of the clouds. Sure am glad you got such wonderful pictures. That's a once in a lifetime event. :)

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  3. Great timing. The eclipse wasn't visible from the southern hemisphere...so you're photos are the only one's we've seen. Thanks.

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  4. thanks for showing us! No moon for us, the weather here has been ark-worthy!

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  5. It seems the whole country had a cloud cover for this one! I put a few pictures on FaceBook. We got to see most of the eclipse, and just as it was total, heavier clouds moved in, so we didn't see the eclipse move on.

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  6. Oh, so incredibly beautiful - we didn't see it here either, but thankfully you captured another great one for us.

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  7. I'm totally envious!! :-)!!! Your pictures are really amazing, and how cool that you got to see it!! We only got a glimpse of it, which I was glad about, but nothing that I could try and take a picture of.

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  8. What amazing photos. We had about 20 minutes between clouds. Ted got out his telescope so we had a pretty cool view of the first part of the eclipse, but about 5 minutes before the moon was fully eclipsed the clouds came back. We never got to see the red color, so thank you for sharing.

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  9. You got some wonderful photos! We were cloudy so it was the moon was very dark and hardly visable
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  10. Was it so gorgeous and exciting to see
    Lily & Edward

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  11. I knew you would have the best pictures. We had lots of clouds too. Actually, around midnight, the clouds passed and the moon was so bright it had two halos around it. I have never seen anything like it.

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  12. KB, we just knew , knew, knew that you would try your hardest to get some photos to share and you did! These are the most amazing photos ever! They are perfect,, Isn't it interesting how the moon just looks like a ball suspended in space,,!!!
    And your quiet moments alone on the mountain meadow- are moments captured in your heart,, enjoying the Universe and being fearless.
    Thank you for sharing these..
    We tried with this little camera,, but nope,, its afraid of the dark,,!

    Happy Lunar Eclipse KB-- you did it!
    love
    tweedles

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  13. So very beautiful....I can only imagine how peaceful that must have been!

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  14. We saw TONS of pictures on facebook yesterday of the eclipse but your photos win hands down, KB. Stunning!

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  15. your photos of the moon are great! mine sadly looked odd... but it's the thought wehat counts, right?

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  16. We enjoyed the eclipse cloud free until at least 10:30 EST - then it was my bed time!

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  17. My story was pretty similar. Dang clouds anyway. You got some nice shots though.

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  18. Beautiful photos! I was tucked up in bed with a cold and didn't fancy getting up at 3am to see the moon - perhaps next time! :)

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  19. Very nice! I thought it would be red at 3am so since I wake up at that time anyway to let B out for her 3am pee, I went outside but all I saw was the moon really bright and a bug chewed on my elbow. Thankfully, yesterday someone had a very excellent picture of the red moon that occurred earlier in the evening and plus I had a dream that I saw it - so I didn't feel totally cheated.

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  20. Very nice. We had clear skies in CT but we had a lot of trees, houses, wires and ambient light to accompany it. AND my little point and shoot didn't do a great job.

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  21. such beautiful images!
    i am glad you enjoyed your time in the meadow.

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  22. Thank you KB - I missed it, your pics are amazing!!!

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  23. Lucky you and lucky us to see these wonderful glimpses of the Blood Moon. We watched the eclipse, but the Blood Moon was obscured.

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  24. Gorgeous photos! We didn't have any clouds to contend with, but there was a lot of daylight left when the moon rose and so the moon was hard to see. We did get to watch it turn red and I got a few photos of that but nothing as clear and vivid as yours. It was really rather disappointing here, and certainly seemed no bigger than our usual run-of-the-mill moons. We get much bigger and more colourful harvest moons that the blood supermoon we saw last night.

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