I heard about the blood moon lunar eclipse the night that it was going to happen, and instead of sleeping through such an interesting occasion I set my alarm for 2 AM and lurked around the house for an hour while the eclipse crept over the moon.
Because I needed to take a long exposure (about 1.5 seconds), I found my tripod and set it up outside the back door so I could go out, snap the picture, and then retreat inside for the next 15 minutes (because it was COLD out, all right? My fingers were freezing!). The result is some pretty darned cool pictures, if I may say so myself.
This was a little after 2 AM. The eclipse was almost complete at that point, and where there had been moonlight everywhere a few hours before it was getting to be very dark. (Stating the obvious, perhaps, but when you're the only one up, and the moon is doing weird things, it still feels a bit creepy. XD)
This was about 2:30-ish...getting brighter!
And here we have it in all its coppery glory at around 2:45 AM. The little blue dot, according to my reading up in between outdoor ventures, is Mars. I think it's kinda cute how he's trying to get in on the action.
*just realized that I'm anthropomorphizing planets*
Anyway.
So I read that the reason that the moon turns red is because of the sun's light behind the earth reflecting off of the atmospheric particles and onto the moon; the color wavelengths that don't get diffused are red, and there you have it! (Tumblr was very handy in providing this information last night.)
Enjoy the pictures!
Also, friendly reminder that in 2 weeks and 2 days I'm leaving for Colorado. AAAAHHHHHH. 8D
