Super Bad Moon Rising

While the title sounds like the name of a pretentious rock band, the lunar eclipse that happened last night was truly a “super moon” as well as a “blood moon.” Heralded by some nitwits as a sign that the world was ending, it only brought about a final battle between photographers and the ever dimming lunar face.

Okay, make that just one photographer, me.

After a week of feeling fairly terrible, the rare combination of fair skies and a rare celestial event prompted me to get the telescope out last night. Once outside, the amazing amount of light pouring out of the sky into an only slightly hazy atmosphere led to the brilliant idea of trying to take some photographs. Brilliant idea or merely a touch of lunacy? That ended up becoming the question of the night.

It all started innocently enough with a nice campfire to sit around while watching the moon rise. Men being men, we had to complicate that, starting with the telescope. After initially testing the dedicated moon filter, it was lined up and ready to go. Alas, my father decided to try to use the tracking mechanism without knowing how to do it. In the end, he lost the moon. Yes, the moon.

Never underestimate the ability of a repair man to lose something, no matter how large it may be.

Meanwhile, despite remembering how to use the tripod that has been untouched for years, I was struggling to get decent photos with my now antiquated Canon Digital Rebel equipped with a 250mm zoom lens. Not only have I forgotten the ins and outs of digital cameras, I’ve forgotten the basics such as removing the UV filter when taking night time shots.

Even after rectifying that obvious problem, the Canon was having a nightmarish time focusing on Earth’s faithful companion. Disabling image stabilization along with autofocus did not produce the hoped for results. The two shots above are the best of the lot.

Our neighbor was having the same problems with his Sony DSLR making for a lot of frustration and muttering filling the evening air.

Desperation is the mother of invention, so pulling out my FujiFilm Finepix HS25EXR was my last hope. Having gotten good results of a day moon before, maybe it could get something… anything.

Well.

While the haze in the air prevented tack sharp pictures, the difference was profound. A lot of futzing around with settings, modes, and the tripod yielded a small quantity of tolerable snaps. Never did find a remote for the shutter, since the camera is meant to be a carry along for pictures of opportunity, and that would have helped at least a little.

All crops are to 1080p resolution with no resizing. Once again, the zoom lens on the HS25EXR impressed as it pulled out details including the large Tycho crater. Watching the shadow of the Earth slowly creep over the Copernicus crater then devour the Sea of Tranquility was spectacular due to the red-orange glow of the shadowed part. Alas, the camera didn’t want to replicate the colors we were witnessing with the naked eye.

Fighting madly with the shutter speed, focus, and stabilization netted a few photos that caught a hint of the ruddy spectacle unfolding. Too efficient at gathering in light, the sensor made everything too bright. EXR mode was the only way to get any photos as the eclipse neared its climax. Hunting around submodes frantically at this point made me think I wasn’t going to get any shots of the finale.

Then the light faded away and the camera simply could not find the moon. Since the viewfinder isn’t true optics, but instead a small display fed by the sensor, lining up the moon was almost impossible.

Found it!

Yeah, that wasn’t encouraging even if it gave an idea of what color the blood moon looked like to the naked eye. Giving up, I took one last trio of pictures nearly blind to what I was shooting.

One of those managed to not be a double image, although very soft. At that point, I was more than worn out and declared victory.

At last a celestial event was not clouded over and missed here in Yucatan. All the previous super moons weren’t visible in the valley at all. Thankfully, the best was saved for last and I’ll probably be dead before the next time this confluence of events occurs.

Humanity’s folly of not having a permanent base up there is something that I reflect on every time I gaze at the lunar landscape. We as a race aren’t even trying to excel and explore any more. Once a people turn away from looking outward, the collapse has already begun.

Maybe the next big civilization will achieve what we failed to do. The future is in the stars after all.