A Celestial Dance: Lunar Eclipse from Down Under

Camera: Sony A7RV
Lens: Sigma 150-600mm at f/8
ISO: 320
Tracker: Star Adventurer 2

This past week, the skies above Australia offered a spectacular view of a lunar eclipse. Astrophotographer [Your Name/Blog Name] seized the opportunity from the pristine darkness of Australian skies to capture this breathtaking event.

The Process: Capturing the Cosmic Transformation

A total of 513 tracked photos were meticulously taken to document the entire duration of the eclipse. To capture the full dynamic range of the moon's illumination, each shot was taken with two exposures: one for the bright, illuminated moon and another for the much dimmer, shadowed moon. The RAW images were then expertly processed and stacked using Affinity Photo to create a seamless and detailed representation of the eclipse.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this capture is the enhancement of the eclipsed moon's brightness. As the Earth's shadow engulfed our celestial neighbor, the moon dimmed significantly – by approximately 1000 times! This post-processing effort brings out the subtle details and colors present during totality.

The Eclipse Unveiled

The entire lunar eclipse spanned 2.5 hours, with totality lasting nearly an hour. The sequence presented here unfolds in an anti-clockwise direction. A unique perspective for those in the Northern Hemisphere, Australians experience the moon appearing upside-down, adding another layer to this celestial viewing.

Lunar Eclipse from Australia

During the darkest phase of the eclipse, the moon takes on a distinct reddish hue. This phenomenon occurs as sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere and is refracted onto the moon's surface. Essentially, the Earth is casting a shadow, but the atmosphere acts like a lens, bending red light towards the moon, creating a beautiful blood moon effect and, in essence, a solar eclipse viewed from the moon itself.