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 aligned 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: Although total lunar eclipses are stunning events, partial eclipses involving the earth's penumbra are often considered non-events and not worthy of observation since the minute changes in the apparent magnitude of the moon are barely visible to the ground-based observer (if at all). However, this particular penumbral eclipse was sufficiently deep to not only allow for an event visible to the naked eye but permitted for the reconstruction of the penumbral shadow and similar to an earlier partial eclipse where the umbral shadow was captured.

The composite image below is a digital time series sequence centered on the penumbral eclipse at maximum. Furthermore, the length of each exposure was purposely kept constant from image to image so as to ensure the change in magnitude during the course of the eclipse, however slight, would be captured as accurately as possible in the accompanying time series. Finally, all images were recorded in RAW image format so that the digital camera's on-board software would not manipulate the white balance in any way and, thereby, distort the planned comparison.

Note: For three time series illustrating the progress of the penumbral shadow, please click here, here and here.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 2020-01-10
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
Penumbra
Penumbra
(End of Totality)
Penumbra
(Full)
Penumbra
(End)
Time (UT+2)
19:05:02
N/A
N/A
21:10:01
N/A
N/A
23:14:08
Az / Alt
76.66 ° / +20.20 °
---.-- ° / ---.-- °
---.-- ° / ---.-- °
94.34 ° / +43.66 °
---.-- ° / ---.-- °
---.-- ° / ---.-- °
124.71 ° / +66.05 °

Image Details
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse at Maximum: 2020-01-10
Imaging Details
Body:
Moon

Mass:
0.0123 x Earth

Mean Eq Diameter:
0.2719 x Earth

Distance:
371,571 km

Sidereal Rev:
27d 07h 43m 11s

Age:
14d 17h 59m

Diameter:
32.55'

Saros Cycle:
144

Magnitude:
Penumb+0.89957
Umbral-0.11956

Duration:
Penumb4h 09m 06s
UmbralN/A
Date:
Jan 10, 2020
21:10:00 UT+2


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
AP 160/f7.5 StarFire EDF
AP 1200GTO/CP3 GEM
Canon EOS 700D
Baader UV/IR-Cut Filter


Exposure:
1 x 1/320 sec
ISO 100
RAW Image Format
5184x3456 image size
Manual Mode
Servo Mode


Software:
Digital Photo Pro V4.6.30.0
Photoshop CS5


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