Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Solar and Lunar Eclipse Image Gallery

Ever since man's first appearance on this planet, eclipses have been regarded as both mystical and devine with some cultures, for example, associating a lunar eclipse with the imminent arrival of death, war and/or famine. Although the distance of the moon and sun from earth vary dramatically (400,000 vs 150,000,000 km, respectively), the apparent size of these two heavenly bodies is such that they give the impression during an eclipse, solar or lunar, to be virtually identical (ie. about 30 arc-minutes in angular size). A total eclipse represents the unique occurrence in space and time where the sun, moon and earth are perfectly alligned as three collinear points on the same orbital plane. When the collinearity is not perfect but one of these three bodies is slightly higher or lower in the plane, we have a partial eclipse. Of course, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon lies perfectly between the sun and the earth, thus eclipsing the solar disk. In contrast, a lunar eclipse occurs when the earth lies between the sun and moon and, thus, the moon is hidden by the earth's shadow.

Note: The image below involving the eclipsed moon twenty minutes before third contact with the penumbra (U3) was taken with very thin clouds passing through the field of view. The moon was barely visible to the naked eye.

Note: For additional samples (with and without thin clouds), please click here, here, here, here and here.

Total Lunar Eclipse: 2011-06-15
Stage
P-1
U-1
U-2
Max
U-3
U-4
P-4
Description
Penumbra
(First contact)
Umbra
(First contact)
Umbra Complete
(Start of Totality)
Maximum
Totality
Penumbra
(End of Totality)
Penumbra
(Full)
Penumbra
(End)
Time (UT+3)
20:22:52
21:22:24
22:21:57
23:12:24
00:02:50
01:02:22
02:02:02
Az / Alt
117.90 ° / -03.63 °
126.99 ° / +06.00 °
137.33 ° / +14.29 °
147.31 ° / +20.14 °
158.45 ° / +24.52 °
172.84 ° / +27.36 °
187.79 ° / +27.33°

Image Details
Total Lunar Eclipse: 2011-06-15
Imaging Details
Body:
Moon

Mass:
0.0123 x Earth

Mean Eq Diameter:
0.2719 x Earth

Distance:
374,753 km

Sidereal Rev:
27d 07h 43m 11s

Age:
14d 19h 50m

Diameter:
32.14'

Saros Cycle:
130

Magnitude:
Penumb+2.712
Umbral+1.705

Duration:
Penumb5h 39m 10s
Umbral3h 39m 58s
Total 1h 40m 52s
Date:
June 15, 2011
23:43:49 UT+3


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
AP 160 f/7.5 StarFire EDF
AP 1200GTO GEM
Canon EOS 350D
Baader UV/IR-Cut Filter


Exposure(s):
1 x 30 sec
ISO 400
RAW image format
3456x2304 image size
Manual Mode


Software:
Digital Photo Prof V2.1.1.4
Photoshop CS2


Processing:
RAW to TIFF (16-bit) Conv
Resampling
JPG Compression