Lunar Eclipse or Foiled Again

[mickeyobe]

Correspondence with my youngest grandson, Halifax, N.S.
Read from bottom up.


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Tue, December 21, 2010 3:16:23 AM
Fw: Your Guide to the Darkest Day in 372 Years [Astronomy]
...
From:
MICKEY OBERMAN <>
...
View Contact
To: Evan Oberman <>

Curses! Foiled again.

The moon is too small for my 300mm lens to get a usable image.

Perhaps in 372 years it will be bigger.
I am patient but that is a pretty long wait.

3:11am.
As Samuel Pepys said,
"And so to bed."

Mickey

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----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Evan Oberman <>
To: MICKEY OBERMAN <>
Sent: Tue, December 21, 2010 2:28:17 AM
Subject: Re: Your Guide to the Darkest Day in 372 Years [Astronomy]

Hi Mickey,

I am planning on going outside shortly to watch the sky as well. I sure hope you get a good shot because I sure don't have any hope with my phone camera.

Enjoy the eclipse!

-Evan

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On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 2:25 AM, MICKEY OBERMAN <> wrote:

Good morning Evan.

It is now 2:25 am.
Sure enough the eclipse has begun.
At the moment the moon is high in the south western sky.
It is very small. Even my 300mm lens will not give me very much of an image.
I am patient.; I will wait to see what develops.
My camera is manually focused at infinity ∞.
Shutter speed and aperture on automatic. I can always revert to manual settings if auto is not good.
Deep lens hood to exclude extraneous light.
All is set upon a good sturdy tripod.
The sky is clear but clouds are approaching from the north so it will be a race.
Now I hold my breath and hope.

Mickey

************************

From: Evan Oberman <>
To: Mickey Oberman <>
Sent: Tue, December 21, 2010 12:43:37 AM
Subject: Your Guide to the Darkest Day in 372 Years [Astronomy]

gawker.com/5715215/your-guide-to-the-darkest-day-in-372-years

- Sent form my Android tablet -


--
Evan Oberman

[daveh]

Mickey,

Buy yourself a telescope for the next one. you should be able to pick one up in the January sales at a bargain price.

By coincidence I took a few moon shots yesterday afternoon, local time 4:05.


ISO3200 1/200 f5.6, 125mm - I haven't cropped the frame.

[nikonbob]

Mickey

I can sympathize with your disappointment. That type of photography is pretty specialized and so is the equipment needed. I guess cropping did not do it either?

Bob

[mickeyobe]

Same day. 6:30 am. Same moon.
Has grown considerably.
300mm is not nearly enough.





Cropping with a 6.3 mpx camera doesn't enhance the picture.
Note the star. It is red. Could it be Mars?



It looks like Dave is right. I must buy Mt. Palomar Observatory.

Mickey

[daveh]

Mickey,

to be fair the photo not at all bad. I can see why people think it is made of cheese. I think I can just make out Wallace and Gromit on their grand day out".

We have too much light pollution near home to get good night sky shots.

Dave.

[nikonbob]

Mickey

Yea, more mps would be better for cropping. This may be a case where bigger may be better. The cropped photo looks like what I got size wise when using an old 1000mm mirror lens. Don't buy Mt. Palomar Observatory just see if you can rent it for 10 minutes.

Bob

[daveh]

Preferably not a cloudy 10 minutes.

[nikonbob]

Dec 21, 2010 15:33:55 GMT -5 daveh said:

Preferably not a cloudy 10 minutes.

Not likely to happen to Mickey, that is my kind of luck.

Bob

[daveh]

Bob,

In that case go with him when he hires it!

Dave.

[mickeyobe]

I am a jinx when it comes to celestial phenomena.
From lightning to eclipses to meteorites, to aurora borealis, you name it. I have always missed it.

I am good with clouds and sunsets and sunrises but a 4 year old could do them well.

I am sure if I got the use of an observatory the opening mechanism would jam shut or the mirror would crack.

Mickey

[nikonbob]

My wife will be relieved to know that there really is someone else jinxed as much me. It dosen't feel as lonely any more knowing that.

Bob