[turtle]

And it went dark, well, for a little while.

Most have heard that we had a total lunar eclipse tonight. If not CNN has a little story from the London Office.


My real question though is what is to the right of the moon in this shot? As you can tell, my vantage point wasn't that great because of clouds. Nothing could make the picture we took of the eclipse look good. I was really hoping for some better ones. I ended up getting some good ones later though after the clouds moved out of the way.


You can still see the object to the right of the moon in this shot, only it is passing the moon. That isn't a star. What is it? Any ideas?


Last shot taken after the eclipse was mostly finished, that's why there is a slight fade at the top right edge of the moon. Fast shutter speed kept the object from being seen this time.

[EmC]

Your unidentified object looks like a star that not visible when the moon is fully lit. Kind of like not being able to see the stars during the day. I totally missed it. I was otherwise preoccupied.

[ShadowOfGed]

The object you're seeing is likely due to the same phenomena that allows us to see the sun's corona during a Solar eclipse.

When the moon was eclipsed, it's relative brightness was shot to shit, so we could see stars that shine from afar whose light is normally drowned out by that of the moon. Likewise, the sun is so bright that we never see its corona at daytime, but when its main body is blocked by the moon, we can suddenly see the corona around it.

Note: I'm a dork, and wanted to use names like "Sol" and terms like "luminance." Oh, I need a life.

[Kickaha]

Completely missed it. Looked outside periodically from 30min before total sundown to about an hour after, and the moon never made it from behind the cloud bank. Thanks for the shots.

[adamb]

I had intended to take some pictures, but forgot to bring my slr home. It was a perfect night for it too.

[Fahrenheit]

Beautiful pics, turtle head.

[drewprops]

Super!!
I looked up last night, saw the moon shining bright, was talking to a friend on the phone and suddenly remembered that there was going to be an eclipse and asked him to look up the time it was supposed to occur on the net (as I was driving). Disappointed to find out that I'd already missed it..... thanks for the pictures!

[psmith2.0]

I went outside a few times last night, but the moon was bright and in full view. I must've missed it (too late), or jumped the gun (too early). I was never clear on the time frame involved where I lived (or if it was even something that would be easily seen from the southeastern U.S.).



But I love stuff like this in general (eclipses, meteor showers, a passing comment, visible planets, etc.), and always try to catch them when they take place.

[zsummers]

Thanks for the great shots, Turtle. I missed it, and these are far cooler than most of the AP stuff out there.

p.s. Did anyone else think this thread was going to be about the card game "Hearts"?

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by zsummers Thanks for the great shots, Turtle. I missed it, and these are far cooler than most of the AP stuff out there.

Of course it was: their little self-imposed "Paris ban" was over, and they had more important things to get back to, you know.

[709]

Originally Posted by zsummers p.s. Did anyone else think this thread was going to be about the card game "Hearts"?

I'm embarrassed to admit I thought he was talking about this:

[Banana]

Well, I thought he was literally shooting the moon. You know, with a gun.

[billybobsky]

laser pointer... myself...

[turtle]

Originally Posted by EmC Your unidentified object looks like a star that not visible when the moon is fully lit. Kind of like not being able to see the stars during the day. I totally missed it. I was otherwise preoccupied.

Originally Posted by ShadowOfGed The object you're seeing is likely due to the same phenomena that allows us to see the sun's corona during a Solar eclipse. When the moon was eclipsed, it's relative brightness was shot to shit, so we could see stars that shine from afar whose light is normally drowned out by that of the moon. Likewise, the sun is so bright that we never see its corona at daytime, but when its main body is blocked by the moon, we can suddenly see the corona around it. Note: I'm a dork, and wanted to use names like "Sol" and terms like "luminance." Oh, I need a life.

The problem with this being a star is the path of the moon and the light next to it. The object is overtaking the moon heading up in the pictures. The Moon is also heading up in the pictures. As you can see the in the second picture it is higher in relation to the moon than in the first picture.

Though it just dawned on me, I didn't reference it to the other stars around to see if it was stable when compared to the other stars out there. I'm sure it was nothing, it just surprised me and I didn't notice it until after I was looking through them after getting home.

Thanks for the compliments all. For those who missed it. The eclipse happened from about 6pm to 7pm EST. After that it started to clear the shadow of the Earth and was an unhindered view of the full moon at about 9pm.

[torifile]

I thought he was talking about playing Hearts. Nice shots.

[Enki]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 You can still see the object to the right of the moon in this shot, only it is passing the moon. That isn't a star. What is it? Any ideas?

Satellite. Photo exposures and zoom see them much more readily than the human eye does.

[World Leader Pretend]

I'm pretty sure that you are seeing a satellite.

[julesstoop]

No chance that's a satellite. When seen from the surface of our planet they generally move with a speed of about one arc degree per second. The exposure of this picture is long enough to transform it into a line crossing most of the field of vision.

Of course there are stationary satelites (in geo-synchronous orbits) but they are simply too dim to be visible with an exposure like this.

Edit:
I used Celestia and found the objest is a star, known by several names, one of which is "59 Leo".

[Majost]

Originally Posted by julesstoop No chance that's a satellite. When seen from the surface of our planet they generally move with a speed of about one arc degree per second. The exposure of this picture is long enough to transform it into a line crossing most of the field of vision. Of course there are stationary satelites (in geo-synchronous orbits) but they are simply too dim to be visible with an exposure like this.

I've also been trying to work through all the geometries... but my first instinct would be that a satellite there would also be in the Earth's shadow. But it ain't easy to think through. And it would also depend on the height of orbit - although since we know it's gotta be geosynchronous, we know the orbit.

[julesstoop]

Yes.
Since yesterday was not the 21st. of March nor the 21st. of September, the geosynchronous orbit (which is straight above the equator) was inclined (a few degrees) with the orbit of the moon at the moment of the eclipse.
For that simple reason it can't be a geo-synchronous sattelite.

See my previous post for an explanation of what it is

[Schnauzer]

Originally Posted by 709 I'm embarrassed to admit I thought he was talking about this:

that game ROCKS!

[Foj]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 You can still see the object to the right of the moon in this shot, only it is passing the moon. That isn't a star. What is it? Any ideas?

Probably just a starfighter making his rounds. Looking for signs of Xur or the Ko-Dan armada.

[709]

Originally Posted by Schnauzer that game ROCKS!

Back in the early '90s I worked at this place on Congress Ave. in Austin called 'High Time Tea Bar & Brain Gym'. Basically it was a coffeeshop that also served nutraceutical/herbal drinks and smoothies, but had loads of board games and those types of 'skill' games on the tables and bar. It's closed now, but it was a fun place to be a part of for a while.

[dmegatool]

How do you play that game ?

[709]

You have move the two metal poles apart slowly - increasing the space between them - trying to get the metal ball to move 'upward' into the hole closest to you (5000 POINTS STAGE FIVE OMG ).

Here's a different view so you can see what I'm talking about:



It's harder than it looks.

[Majost]

Originally Posted by 709 You have move the two metal poles apart slowly - increasing the space between them - trying to get the metal ball to move 'upward' into the hole closest to you (5000 POINTS STAGE FIVE OMG ). Here's a different view so you can see what I'm talking about: It's harder than it looks.

It's based on deceptive physics. It looks as though it'd be impossible to get the ball to roll *up* the rods, but by spreading them apart, the ball can roll down just slightly before completely falling through. By squeezing the rods together just before it falls through, you can capture the momentum and propel it up. I could never quite make it to the moon -- but I do remember getting to the second-farthest. Ah, good childhood memories at the grandparents' place!

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by Foj Probably just a starfighter making his rounds. Looking for signs of Xur or the Ko-Dan armada.

That. Movie. ROCKED.

A classic 80s flick with video games, geek done good, and kick-ass CGI space battles? Oh yeah. Death Blossom was so damned cool.

(Okay, so I'm sure if I saw it now, I'd probably think it was lame.)

[turtle]

After going though my images more I can say for certain it is only a star. I didn't think to use the other stars as a reference point, but it works. The start next to the moon stay aligned with the other stars around it. Man, I was wondering why I was the only one who thought it was odd to be there.

Now, for those who may be interested, I have published my images from the lunar eclipse. It is only with my .Mac and iWeb, but if you didn't get to see them now would be your chance.


Click the image to see the photo page on my site. If you want to read about the evening then click over to my blog and read about it there.

This is pretty much the same post as in the Color Photography thread, but some might not go there and so I thought I would make sure people who were looking in this thread could see my images too.