The September 27, 2015, Total Eclipse of the Moon
The Super Harvest Blood Moon as seen from Farmington, CT. Click to enlarge.
At Farmington, CT.
Well, you have a once in a generation celestial event, especially one that comes at a comfortable time – late evening – and you better not miss it. Last night’s total eclipse of a “supermoon” may not, from my perspective anyway, have been as spectacular as some of the media predictions, but it nonetheless was pretty cool. Maybe not as red as they were saying, maybe not quite as bright as I expected. But cool.
What we had was a harvest moon coming at a time when the moon is closest to Earth, making it the so-called supermoon. Because the moon during such an eclipse turns a reddish color, it also is known as a blood moon. So, we had a Super Harvest Blood Moon. The last one came in 1982. The next one won’t come until 2033.
I very much wanted to get a great photo. I got a so-so photo. Drove down to Town Farm Road in Farmington and set up my tripod next to the Polo Grounds property, a wide-open expanse with unobstructed views of the sky. The moon was fairly high in the sky by 10 p.m. and already mostly eclipsed. By the time of the total eclipse minutes later, I found it hard to even get the moon in the viewfinder. In 20 minutes of fumbling around I managed to get but one passable image.
But the important thing was, I saw it.