Rare lunar eclipse tomorrow night

[softailrider]

For an event like this, I don't think a telescope would be much better than binoculars. What might help is a stable tripod mount for the binoculars so the [[handheld) image doesn't shake around too much. Shaking makes it hard to see details.

Really good optics are expensive mostly because they have a large aperture for collecting more faint light. For lunar eclipses, there's more than enough light so that aperture doesn't matter much. Binoculars are more than adequate.

Didn't think about a tripod. Come to think of it, I'm not sure my binos have a tripod socket. Thanks for the info.

[Jimaz]

Didn't think about a tripod. Come to think of it, I'm not sure my binos have a tripod socket. Thanks for the info.

If it does have a connection, it attaches to the central forward pivot of the binoculars. There might be a cap to remove. You can connect that to an "L" bracket that connects to a standard photo tripod.

The whole point is to increase visibility by decreasing vibration. Even a monopod helps.

[mikeg19]

Maybe it was just me, but it didn't appear to look any larger than other moon's I've seen in the past. And some of the pictures I've seen of this blazing red orb in the sky were nothing like my wife and I saw. Yea, it had a reddish hue to it. And it was cool to watch an eclipse with your bare eyes, but overall the wow factor was about a 4 out of 10. Maybe it was our vantage point, who knows.

[Downriviera]

I saw a couple of moon balls by Peyton Manning eclipse the Lion's.

[old guy]

Well that's an optical illusion. The moon always appears to be bigger the closer to the horizon it is.

Despite the hype, the average person cannot tell the difference between this "super" moon and any regular moon. The difference in size and brightness is in the low percentages.

The night prior to the event the sky was very clear where I was. I was sitting outside and I was amazed at how bright the moon was. It almost looked like daylight in my back yard. That was before I knew about the eclipse.

[Warrenite84]

You took my photo and just flipped it upside down, didn't you?

Ha! No, the Mare or dark areas on the Moon would be mirror opposites. I used a Sony Alpha 12MP 75-300 telephoto lens.

[Honky Tonk]

Ha! No, the Mare or dark areas on the Moon would be mirror opposites. I used a Sony Alpha 12MP 75-300 telephoto lens.

Mine was with a 300 mm also, but a Panasonic P&S. It must have cleared up again. It clouded up right after the peak.

[Whitehouse]

Funny story. I was up all night to see the eclipse on the 27th. Nothing happened....

Failed to realize that every link I read about the eclipse, like NASA's, was American.


.....and seeing I'm on the other side of the dateline, I was a night too soon. You got the eclipse in the evening, I got it in the night on Monday...