On Wednesday October 8 we were treated to a relatively rare event – a total lunar eclipse, including a red “blood moon” in the skies above Tasmania.

Lunar eclipse Hobart Tasmania October 8 2014

The event was nicely timed, starting fairly shortly after dark with the peak of the eclipse, the so-called “blood moon” looming over the city from around 8:30pm.

Lunar eclipse Hobart Tasmania October 8 2014

At first it seemed the clouds were going to ruin the spectacle but as it turned out they added some very nice mystique to the photos 🙂

Lunar eclipse Hobart Tasmania October 8 2014

Lunar eclipse Hobart Tasmania October 8 2014

At first, the moon lost none of its usual colour, and to the casual observer it could have easily appeared that nothing unusual was going on. But as the photographs show, the moon was slowly disappearing and a distinctive red hue was starting to dominate.

The red “Blood Moon” during Wednesday nights eclipse

Photographing the Lunar Eclipse with Interval Composite Shooting Mode

At the peak of the blood moon I attempted some composite images. The first one below consisted of 9 exposures taken 2 minutes apart, using the “Interval Composite” drive mode. This means selecting your interval (ie length of time between exposures) and the number of exposures you’d like to combine into one image. The second image below was one image taken every 2 minutes and 45 seconds which allowed for some space between “moons”. The reason some “moons” are missing is cloud cover.

A composite of images taken 2 minutes apart during the peak of Wednesday nights eclipse of the moon

Another composite, images taken 2 minutes 45 seconds apart as the peak passes. First image in sequence is to the right.

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