A total lunar eclipse is set to dazzle tomorrow - along with some other stellar sights

[turbinetree]

By The Conversation
Published November 07, 2022

Tomorrow evening people across Australia and New Zealand will be treated to a total lunar eclipse, weather permitting. It’s an opportunity to not be missed, as the next one won’t be visible from our region until 2025.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon travels through Earth’s shadow. If the Moon only partly makes it into the shadow, that’s a partial eclipse. In a total eclipse, the Moon becomes fully immersed and takes on a reddish/orange glow.

In tomorrow’s eclipse the period of totality – when the Moon is fully immersed in shadow – will last a leisurely 85 minutes.

https://www.rawstory.com/a-total-lunar-eclipse-is-set-to-dazzle-tomorrow-along-with-some-other-stellar-sights/

[question everything]

1. Last evening the full moon was magnificent. Cloudy nights the rest of the week

[jcgoldie]

2. think its supposed to be cloudy

Here in the lower Midwest

[usonian]

3. Tomorrow is today in Australia, I think, but tomorrow is tonight here. (Does that make sense?)

DON'T STAY UP ALL NIGHT IF YOU HAVE ELECTION-DAY CHORES!
Rainy in much of CA.
Otherwise:

Eclipse November 8 (Early AM) info. If you are voting Tuesday, or helping at polls, leave it to NASA
and serious photo nuts here.
Simplest info first:
What time is the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse on Nov. 8?
https://www.space.com/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-november-2022-what-time
Short of it:


How do I set the proper exposure for nighttime moon photos?
https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/459/how-do-i-set-the-proper-exposure-for-nighttime-moon-photos
For the un-eclipsed moon, "rule of 11" for us old-timers. f/11 at 1/100 and ISO 100. Adjust accordingly. (It's f/18 for brightly lit scenes)
Otherwise, use the info here, or have a VERY tiny spot on your light meter.
For "regular" moon photos, underexpose about a stop so that highlights don't saturate your detector.

Cheat sheet: (Q seems to be like an exposure value (you don't control it. The moon just changes brightness) and Danjon Value seems to be a measure of just how dark the moon gets when eclipsed. 4 is bright red, 1 is damn dark)
NOTE: The brightest totality is 11 steps or stops darker than the fully lit moon. That is 2 to the 11th power, or 512 X.




8 Tips for Perfect Moon Photography Settings
https://digital-photography-school.com/moon-photography-settings/
General info. As for eclipses, he shows an example of a sequence of eclipse photos, combined digitally in post-processing.

Tips for Photographing a Lunar Eclipse
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/22-tips-for-photographing-a-lunar-eclipse

The root of the challenge is that the Earth is spinning at a high speed and the moon itself is going nearly three times the speed of sound (approximately 2,290 miles per hour) as it orbits our planet. Although the distance between us and the moon is great, so is the relative speed of the satellite. I have found that 1/125 of a second is the floor when taking telephoto lunar shots. Anything slower, and you run the risk of getting (sometimes subtle) motion blur. As your shutter speed starts to slow below 1/125 sec, you can then start increasing your aperture opening and/or bumping up your ISO.

It is important to know that there is always a limit to how wide open your aperture can get and how high your ISO can go—limits that the dark moon cares nothing about, so don’t get frustrated if you run into these man-made limitations.

Of course, there are downsides to wide-open apertures and high digital ISO settings. A wide-open aperture can give you a lack of optical sharpness, but a slightly softer moon is better than a motion-blurred one!

In general, the higher the ISO, the more digital noise you get in the image. Newer cameras have much better high-ISO noise performance than older digital cameras. Know your camera's tolerable high-ISO limits and try not to go past those settings. Also, temperature matters. The warmer the ambient temperature, the more digital noise can build up. Winter lunar eclipses will be better than summer ones when it comes to digital noise—but maybe not the comfort of the spectators.

T E C H N I C A L
The Exact Camera Settings I Used For a Total Lunar Eclipse • PhotographingSpace.com
https://www.photographingspace.com/total-lunar-eclipse-camera-settings/
He exposes as long as 3.2 seconds, which you probably can't get away with (the moon moves relative to the earth), and he has a tracking mount. Only a few of us here have one (and not including me) HOW ISO CAN YOU GO?


SUMMARY:
If your meter can measure a spot smaller than the full moon, use it.
Otherwise, start with a "full moon" setting, such as f/11 at 1/100, 100 ISO, and
then as the eclipse progresses, keep increasing the exposure time/ISO and view the result.

Some eclipsed moon surfaces are brighter than others (earthshine)

The last article uses an f/16 lens, and starts at 1/125 and ISO 100 and progresses to totality, and
3.2 sec, ISO 3200. The previous article used f/13, 1 sec; ISO 6400, which kind of agrees.

The BH Video article says you'll get blur at shutter speeds longer than 1/125 seconds (especially with long lenses).

[LeftInTX]

4. Gonna be up at 5 am EST setting up for the polls.

[moonshinegnomie]

5. im planning on shooting it from texas if its clear. (partly cloudy forecast)