Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

I created this movie using Starry Night Pro 5.8.2 to share with my friend Tim Miller so he would know what to expect from the lunar eclipse happening March 3. The movie starts at sunset, 6:30 PM EST that day, and ends at approximately 9:30 PM EST, and is sped-up 300x. The moon is seen from my house in Bellbrook, Ohio, although I assume the view is roughly the same for anyone east of the Mississippi.

Lunar Eclipse 2007-03-03 (QuickTime H.264, 712k)

As the moon comes over the horizon, it is just past totality, and the first part of the movie shows the moon in the glare and haze of the horizon at sunset. The inner circle represents the Earth’s umbra (the darkest part of the shadow) and the outer circle represents the penumbra (the lighter outside part). Tim and I plan to attempt to take pictures (weather permitting) once the moon is high enough. We may catch the moon just as it exits the umbra, and we will most certainly get some shots while it passes through the penumbra.

Tim and I have taken eclipse pictures before. On January 20, 2000, there was a very good lunar eclipse visible from Ohio that we took pictures of.

This is the moon at totality during that eclipse. We took a lot of shots, but this is my favorite. The temperature outside during the eclipse was -11F! Were we crazy or stupid? I don’t know if I’d do that again. I’ve become less tolerant of those kinds of extremes in my old age.

Anyhow, if we’re able to get some eclipse pictures this time around, you can bet I’ll (eventually) post them here.