Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse~

Bill took his super-great 5D Canon outside on the night of December 20 to capture the lunar eclipse.  We had carted around his tripod for years and hadn't used it, so we took it HOME just this past year! He rose to the challenge of doing handheld shots directly over his head, as that is where the moon was at the point the eclipse began!

It took a while for our naked eyes to see the beginning of the shadow cast by Earth to appear on the surface of the Moon.  However, the camera was able to capture it as it began to blot out the brightly lit Moon.  This was about 11:45 PM Mountain time in Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur.

By 12:20 AM, Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice had actually begun and the Moon was slipping slowly away, with only a slice showing at the top.  Bill was having more trouble capturing the image, as he had to slow down the shutter speed to increase the visibility of the image.  It is remarkable how well he did in steadying the camera since he was pointed it straight up into the night sky!

By 1 AM the eclipse was complete and the red cast of the Moon shone down on us for quite a while.  Bill tried several shots from the dock by our boat where he had taken the other ones, but he could not steady the camera enough.  So he went up to dock ramp and braced himself against the ramp handrail to get this remarkable shot of the Moon!  It would be another 1 1/2 hours for the eclipse to reverse itself- we just went to bed at that point!  What a show!