Moonshadow (well, actually, Earthshadow)
There were two celestial rarities last night: a full lunar eclipse, and a February night in Seattle clear enough to observe it. We stepped out to a local joint for a bite of sushi, then walked back through Meridian Park (large and dark) to check out the beginnings of the eclipse.
We walked on home, and I set up a tripod on out back deck to try for some photos. The white streaks on the first one are the landing lights of a jet on final approach to Seatac (Click to enlarge):
This one was taken as the moon began to emerge from the penumbra:
They’re a bit grainy because I had to use high ISO, but there it is for those of you who live in a rainy climate and couldn’t see it!
Here’s a really excellent photo from today’s P-I:
Very nice. I was out in the car and saw most of the part where the moon was being eaten by the monster, but by the time I got home the moon was behind high clouds and I couldn’t see the rest. Pretty funny that Seattle could be the not rainy place…
That last pix is one of the best I have seen in a long time. It is now my desktop background, way to go!
Fantastic photos. Clouds swept in just minutes before we should have been able to see the eclipse, ruining our chances until 2010. At least we have your photos, though, so all is not lost.
I hope you don’t misunderstand - that last photo is by a professional photographer at the newspaper. A big reason for including it was that he succeeded in doing what I attempted in the first photo.
Yeah, odd that you guys got clouded out.
We saw the eclipse behind very thin wispy clouds. it was beautiful. Nice to see you had such clear skies.