Red moon to grace Cyprus on Monday

[LouiseCastricum]

Very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[cyprusmax47]

Very nice pics Ams. I was too late as the moon was much larger just after rise and more red...
How much was your zoom?

Max

[Dominic]

How do the Flat Earthers explain eclipses?

[Ams]

Hi Max

I only have a bridge camera, but the zoom is 60x, which is very helpful when taking photos of the moon! The pics are cropped too.

I have a Nikon. They also do one with a 90x zoom which I was tempted by, but it's quite a bit bulkier and heavier, and I wanted to find the balance between a good zoom and being practical to carry around. Other essentials for me are super macro and a swivel screen, for close up pics of wildflowers.

Yes, the moon was much reader sooner after moon rise and earlier in the eclipse. I spent some time sitting in my driveway, with my camera and a drink....

[cyprusmax47]

Hi Max

I only have a bridge camera, but the zoom is 60x, which is very helpful when taking photos of the moon! The pics are cropped too.

I have a Nikon. They also do one with a 90x zoom which I was tempted by, but it's quite a bit bulkier and heavier, and I wanted to find the balance between a good zoom and being practical to carry around. Other essentials for me are super macro and a swivel screen, for close up pics of wildflowers.

Yes, the moon was much reader sooner after moon rise and earlier in the eclipse. I spent some time sitting in my driveway, with my camera and a drink....

So you are talking about a Nikon Coolpix P600 ?

Max

[Ams]

Hi Max, yes, that's the camera I have, either that or the 610. I am not at home so can't check, but it's definitely a Nikon Coolpix 6xx.

Have to say, I am happy with it.

[PaphosAL]

My grandson Olly has the same camera, Ams, and i was mightily impressed with his photo of a 10 day old Moon (catching the 'Jewelled Handle' effect on the day/night terminator line, though he hadn't realized it!)

His shots, and indeed yours, are way superior to anything I ever managed when attaching an Olympus OM40 35mm camera body to my 80mm refractor telescope (which had a very sturdy tripod and motor-driven equatorial mount).

Thank you so much for sharing them with us!

Next New Moon is Monday 21st August. So make a note on your kitchen calendar to look for a very 'skinny' New Moon crescent just after sunset, in the western sky on Tue 22 Aug. As it gets darker, the human eye can perceive the whole disk of the Moon. The bright sunlit crescent, and the dark part of the moon a coppery red color (where you can even make out craters etc).

What causes this effect? Earthshine! Yes, sunlight bouncing off the Earth's atmosphere and reflecting 240,000 miles into space, to illuminate the night side of the Moon! The effect goes on for 3 or 4 nights, as the Moon waxes and the bright crescent increases in size.

With a bit of experimentation, I think you'll be able to capture this glorious sight on your Nikon (should you choose to accept this mission, LOL!)

Cheers- AL

[Ams]

Thanks Al

I will try to remember about the new moon and see if can get any decent photos.

The camera has a moon setting in "scenes", with 5 different filters. I do use those most of the time, though try to find the one that looks most natural (so no necessarily a nice orange colour if it's not looking so orange to the naked eye).

It felt a bit of a cheat yesterday and so spent time playing around the manual setting (though I have little education on it and don't really know what I am doing, but had plenty of time to experiment yesterday. God knows how many photos I took but I got a few I was happy with. Next I need to invest in a proper tripod, I do have one but it's cheap and quite flimsy. I need a more sturdy one that holds its position.

[cyprusmax47]

The day after, the moon was not really less red.... but I would need also a proper tripod and larger zoom camera to get better pics..