Category: Full moon

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Blue Super Moon with Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

Blue Super Moon with Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

Blue Super Moon with Blood Red Lunar Eclipse: I thought about sleeping in. I was pretty sure I would have to go elsewhere to see this one. I had really enjoyed the September 30, 2015 Blood Red Lunar Eclipse. That took place on a beautiful autumn evening, at a reasonable hour. This is winter, and the eclipse was during sleeping hours! Not intentionally, I woke up at 3:30 am. “OK, why not go see where this moon is now?” It was actually in a reasonable spot for me to see and photograph it from the beginning of the eclipse until its height. I would not be able to see it set, but in the end, that was OK. Once dawn arrived, the moon faded in the light, even though it was still red. You just couldn’t see the red in the light of day. It worked for me. 🙂

The first image in this gif was photographed at 4:02am MST. The last image in this gif was photographed at 6:25am.

The weather was remarkably good for the last day of January. Climate change has blessed New Mexico with an extremely mild winter (with a resulting curse of return of drought and greater risk of wildfires, etc.). The temperature was right around 32 degrees F throughout. Early on there was a light breeze, but no breeze at all toward the end.

Blue Super Moon Blood Red Lunar Eclipse
Blue Super Moon with Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

I know how fortunate I am to have witnessed a blood red lunar eclipse twice in less than two and a half years (along with some other remarkable celestial events).

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share this with you.

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Prelude to a Blue Moon Super Moon Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

blue moon super moon

Moon Rise as a Prelude to a Blue Moon Super Moon Blood Red Eclipse

Prelude to a blue moon super moon eclipse: the night before was sublime!

blue moon super moon
Prelude to a Blue Moon Super Moon Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

Moon rise tonight was beautiful less than twelve hours before the blood red total lunar eclipse. For information on where to see it in your area, check out this link.

Happy viewing (or sleeping in 🙂 )

(A post on the September 2015 Blood Red Lunar Eclipse is at this link.)

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Beginning of a Spectacular Week for Sky Watching

sky watching

Beginning of a Spectacular Week for Sky Watching

sky watching
Sunrise at the Beginning of a Spectacular Week for Sky Watching

Beginning of a spectacular week for sky watching: sunrise today was one of the most brilliant I have seen in a few weeks. It was an appropriate beginning for this week.

January 31 a Super Moon Blood Red Eclipse occurs. This is a useful link for information about timing of the eclipse. This is set for Albuquerque, but can be adjusted for your spot for viewing.

I photographed the September 2015 Blood Red Lunar Eclipse. The link to that post is here.

This past week, the Super Moon has been rising in the afternoon. Even in a bright sky, this moon stands out as different from the usual. It is large, and bright even in the afternoon.

Sunrise this morning was simply a spectacular beginning to a spectacular week ahead for celestial events. Happy watching!

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Full Moon Setting

setting full moon

Full Moon Setting

Full moon setting this morning was spectacular! Who knew about this one? I caught it only when I went out for the paper. It reminded me of some of the autumn moons. I guess that should not be surprising, since the location in the sky is about the same. This was a very pleasant surprise!

full moon setting
Full Moon Setting

Here are some quotes about the moon:

“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
~ Ming-Dao Deng, Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony

“But even when the moon looks like it’s waning…it’s actually never changing shape. Don’t ever forget that.”
~ Ai Yazawa, Nana, Vol. 14

“We must strive to be like the moon.’ An old man in Kabati repeated this sentence often… the adage served to remind people to always be on their best behavior and to be good to others. [S]he said that people complain when there is too much sun and it gets unbearably hot, and also when it rains too much or when it is cold. But, no one grumbles when the moon shines. Everyone becomes happy and appreciates the moon in their own special way. Children watch their shadows and play in its light, people gather at the square to tell stories and dance through the night. A lot of happy things happen when the moon shines. These are some of the reasons why we should want to be like the moon.”
~ Ishmael Beah

“I never really thought about how when I look at the moon, it’s the same moon as Shakespeare and Marie Antoinette and George Washington and Cleopatra looked at.”
~ Susan Beth Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It

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Super Moon over Three Days

super moon

Super Moon over Three Days and Best Laid Plans

Super moon this November has been spectacular, even in the afternoon hours. Saturday I photographed the moonrise over the Sandias, partly because it was so beautiful, and partly because I wanted to prepare for photographing tonight (Sunday, November 13). I’m really glad I have the images from Saturday. You have seen the animated gif already, and this is a black and white of the moon on Saturday night.

super moon
Moonrise, November 12, 2016

Late Sunday afternoon I set up my tripod, and got the camera set in such a way that I would be able to make final adjustments quickly when the moon rose. From where I live in Albuquerque, moonrise is never at the time the Tables say, because the moon has to clear the Sandia Mountains and not the horizon before becoming visible. I knew a lot of light would not be left by the time the moon actually appeared, but I had hoped for some. However, I was more disappointed than surprised when it was dark.

I was even more surprised by where the moon finally appeared. I was expecting relatively close to where you see it in the image above. That is not where it rose!!! Rather, it rose to the left of that tree, in between the tree and a neighbor’s swamp cooler. This was a learning experience. I moved the tripod and adjusted the camera settings. Because I had so much fun making an animated gif yesterday, I took a series for another gif. Then I made images specifically for the close-to-full (99.6%) moon.

super moon
Super Moon November 13, 2016
super moon
November 2016 Super Moon

Because this moon was to be its largest near dawn of Monday, November 14, I got up to see what was visible. It was still dark. At 6:11 am MST I was able to get this clear shot. Note the slightly orange color as the moon is closer to the horizon.

Super Moon
Super Moon 6:11 am MST

I have been reminded with this moon how quickly the light changes at sunset and sunrise. I’ve known that, but was definitely reminded! The images in this gif were made between 6:19 and 6:26 am, MST. There was no way to avoid seeing the moon through neighborhood trees from my home. It was still fun to make a gif.

super moon
Super Moon Moon Set

I hope you have enjoyed three days of the November 2016 Super Moon as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you.

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Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

Blood Red Lunar Eclipse

The Blood Red Lunar Eclipse of September 27, 2015, was indeed spectacular in the crystal clear high desert skies over Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In April of 2015 I had gone out in the middle of a cold night to see the brief one that occurred then. I’m glad I made the effort to see that one, because it gave me an appreciation for everything about this one that led to all of the hype.

This is a time lapse slideshow of some of my images from the eclipse:

 

This gallery of images highlights some of the major markers during the course of the eclipse:

This is a time lapse composite of the spectacular Blood Red Moon lunar eclipse of September 27, 2015, as seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

blood red lunar eclipse
Time Lapse Composite of “Blood Red Moon” Eclipse on September 27, 2015, Albuquerque, New Mexico

The skies here never disappoint.

I hope you have enjoyed this presentation of images, whether you got to see the eclipse in person and especially if you did not. I appreciate your interest!

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Spooky Full Moon

Spooky Full Moon

Spooky full moon – the words themselves make me think more of Halloween than a beautiful spring evening.

As the moon rose over the mountains, it was initially simply a beautiful moon.

full moon
Clear Sky and Beautiful Rising Moon

Very quickly, however, clouds began to move in, with some possibility of rain overnight. At the first appearance of the clouds, the moon did not appear too spooky.

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Moon and Clouds

But, in a very short period of time, the moon with heavier clouds definitely had a spooky appearance.

full moon
Spooky Moon and Clouds

It really is a beautiful spring evening, although that is not the mood conveyed in the last image.

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