RASC Calgary Centre - Lunar Eclipse 2004-10-27 Photos
Page created October 28, 2004Updated November 11, 2004
Updated March 22, 2005
Note: Photographic images on this page are displayed here with the permission of the owner of the original photograph. In all cases the photograph and image copyright resides with the photographer. Please ensure that the copyright holder is acknowledged if these images are used for any other purpose beyond viewing them on this site for your personal enjoyment.
Contents:
The Lunar Eclipse Parallax Project Description
- Calgary Photos
- Pretoria Photos
- Project Results and Comments
Plus:
Lunar Eclipse Photos from RASC Members
The Lunar Eclipse Parallax Project
This project was initiated by:
Department of Mathematical Sciences
University of South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa
On Wednesday October 27, 2004 members of the Calgary Centre of the RASC set up a number of telescopes for public viewing of the lunar Eclipse.
In addition to this public service, a couple of members joined with other astronomy clubs to perform a unique project. We took several pictures of the total eclipse at 5 minute intervals, synchronized in time even though we were half-way around the world from each other (actually 15763 KM or 9795 mi).
Purpose of the project: To produce a set of photos from widely separated locations on Earth of the same lunar event at the same times. Photos were taken, not to get a "proper" exposure of the relatively bright moon, but to capture the faint star field through which the moon was passing as seen from Calgary and as seen from Pretoria. This would show that the moon exhibits a visible parallax against the background stars when seen from widely separated vantage points on Earth.
The Earth as seen from the Moon at 02:25 UTC Oct 28, 2004
Approximate real night side view (left) and relief map (right).
(Images generated at Fourmilab Switzerland.)
We took images at the following times: 8:25 p.m. MDT, 8:30 p.m., 8:35 p.m., 8:40 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., i.e. at the beginning of totality. We did not take any pictures after 8:45 pm since the Moon set for the observers in South Africa at that time.
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Calgary Photos
Here are 5 pictures of the event taken by Larry McNish of the Calgary Centre of the RASC.
Camera: 35mm Minolta SRT-101 manual SLR film camera
Lens: 135mm f 2.8
Film: Kodak Gold ASA 200
Mount: The camera was mounted piggy-back on my Celestron C8 telescope which was on a german equatorial mount (GEM) set to track the stars (sidereal rate)
Location: Nose Hill Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
51 degrees, 06 minutes, 31 seconds (51.1086°) North Latitude,
114 degrees, 05 minutes, 05 seconds (114.0847°) West Longitude
____ m Elevation.
(as determined by a GPS reading).
Image Processing: The film was developed commercially (with a set of prints) without any special processing. The commercial developer also scanned the photos onto a CD. The image size of the photos on the CD are 1536 x 1038 pixels and the image files are about 300 KB in size. These .jpg image files were then subsequently processed by Christopher McNish to remove some residual orange background caused by a bright sodium street light leaking into the camera lens. As time went by and the Moon rose higher in the east, the street light "bloom" became less apparent.
Exposure Event Timing: We had a short-wave radio receiver tuned to the US National Standard Time Broadcasts, station WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado. No adjustment was made for the distance from Calgary. Radio reception was clear and we had no problems synchronizing the start of each photograph to the appropriate time signal. Each photo below states the time at the start of the exposure.
Exposure times: 20.0 seconds, 30.0 seconds or 1.0 minute as determined by the clock ticking on WWV. Each photo below states the duration.
Sky Conditions: No clouds, but affected by light pollution. Temperature about 0° Celsius, very low humidity.
Click on any photo to open a new window containing the full-size image.
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| This "practice shot" was taken with a 50 mm lens. The wider angle would have captured the very bright street lights on 14th Street NW so I switched to the narrower angle 135 mm lens for the rest of the shots to eliminate the street light. Note that this picture also serves as a "frame reference". Due to the fact that the camera was carried by an equatorial mount, the image seems "tilted" as opposed to "level". This is because, in this equatorial configuration, Declination is "left to right" and Right Ascension is "up and down". All the other images were also taken in this manner. (The orange flare in the upper left is a reflection in the lens of the street light. The second moon below the bright moon is also caused by reflection. The weird red and green arc to the right of the moon are the lights of a small plane that took off from Calgary International Airport on the Eastern horizon, approached us, and turned south while the exposure was being made. "North" is to the left (and down) in this picture. Time: not applicable. | |
 Calgary Practice and Frame Reference Shot |
Why is this image "tilted" as opposed to "level ?" Click the links to see why. Use your Back button to return to this page. |
| Photo 1. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:25:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:25:00 UTC). Exposure: 20 seconds. | |
 Calgary Photo 1 (original) |
 Calgary Photo 1 (digitally enhanced) |
| Photo 2. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:30:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:30:00 UTC). Exposure: 30 seconds. | |
 Calgary Photo 2 (original) |
 Calgary Photo 2 (digitally enhanced) |
| Photo 3. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:35:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:35:00 UTC). Exposure: 60 seconds. | |
 Calgary Photo 3 (original) |
 Calgary Photo 3 (digitally enhanced) |
| Photo 4. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:40:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:40:00 UTC). Exposure: 60 seconds. | |
 Calgary Photo 4 (original) |
 Calgary Photo 4 (digitally enhanced) |
| Photo 5. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:45:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:45:00 UTC). Exposure: 30 seconds. | |
 Calgary Photo 5 (original) |
 Calgary Photo 5 (digitally enhanced) |
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Pretoria Photos
Here are the best two pictures of the event taken by Dr. Barbara Cunow of the University of South Africa.
Camera: Olympus OM10 SLR film camera
Lens: 135mm f 2.8
Film: ASA 400 colour print film
Mount: The camera was tripod mounted and, since it did not track the stars, the exposure time was limited to prevent "star-trailing" on the film.
Location: Pretoria, South Africa.
25 degrees 49 minutes 01.9 seconds (25.81719°) South Latitude,
28 degrees 15 minutes 58.5 seconds (28.26625°) East Longitude
1507 m Elevation.
(as determined by a GPS reading).
Image Processing: The film was developed commercially (with a set of prints) without any special processing. The photos were then scanned. The image size of the photos are 1495 x 1018 and 1496 x 1026 pixels and the image files are about 100 KB in size. These .jpg image files were then subsequently digitally processed (by Larry) to remove the sky background. As time went by the Moon set lower in the west for South Africa, so only the two best photos are shown here.
Exposure Event Timing: Each photo below states the time at the start of the exposure.
Exposure times: 10.0 seconds
Sky Conditions: . . . The pictures show stars down to magnitude 6.
Orientation: For both images, North is at the lower right, and East is at the upper right. The bright stars at the upper left are xi Cet and 64 Cet.
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| Photo 1. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:25:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:25:00 UTC). Exposure: 10 seconds. Corresponds to Calgary Photo #1. |
|
 Pretoria Photo 1 (original) |
 Pretoria Photo 1 (digitally enhanced) |
| Photo 2. Time: Wed, 2004-10-27 20:30:00 MDT (Thu, 2004-10-28 02:30:00 UTC). Exposure: 10 seconds. Corresponds to Calgary Photo #2. |
|
 Pretoria Photo 2 (original) |
 Pretoria Photo 2 (digitally enhanced) |
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Project results and comments
November 10, 2004 - See Dr. Cunow's project results from all participants on her web page at http://astro.unisa.ac.za/~cunow/
From Dr. Barbara Cunow:
"I downloaded your images and saw that they show stars down to magnitude 8, and the later images even show stars of magnitude 9. As far as I can see from your images, you saw the Moon at RA=2h 11 min and decl=+12.7 deg (2000.0). In Pretoria, I observed the Moon at RA=2h 06 min and decl=+13.8 deg (2000.0). The difference between the two positions of the Moon is about 3 Moon diameters! Quite impressive."
"I was able to take pictures until 2.45 UT, but the Moon was already quite low at 2.25 UT, and {morning} nautical twilight started around 2.30 UT. So the earlier images are the best ones. In the last images, the sky is already so bright that the background stars have more or less disappeared."
"There were a number of people in South Africa taking pictures. I have received a few pictures, but I think I still will get some more. I have not heard from Madison yet {as of Saturday, October 30, 2004 7:17 AM MDT}, so I do not know whether they got something. Unfortunately, the amateurs in Germany were clouded out and got nothing."
Updated November 4, 2004
The incredible processed images below are all from Dr. Barbara Cunow, Department of Mathematical Sciences of the University of South Africa.
Dr. Cunow's comments:
"I did some image processing and was able to match the images taken at 20.25 MDT from the two different sites.
One can see the parallax very nicely. The difference between the two positions of the Moon is about 3.2 Moon diameters. I think with that we are close to the largest parallax of the Moon you can ever get from the Earth's surface. The ratio between the diameters of the Earth and the Moon is 3.7, so the Moon's parallax observed from the Earth's surface can never be larger than 3.7 Moon diameters."
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 Calgary image from 20:25 MDT (02:25 UTC) with enhanced stars. |
 Pretoria image from 20:25 MDT (02:25 UTC) with enhanced stars. |
 Calgary image rotated so that North is at the top. |
 Pretoria image rotated so that North is at the top. |
 Combined images showing the observed Lunar Parallax. |
 The Central portion of the combined images showing the observed Lunar Parallax. |
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Lunar Eclipse Photos from RASC Members
Here are 3 Lunar eclipse photos from RASC member Joe Barrett taken from Springbank with a tripod mounted Olympus C730 digital camera at 10x optical zoom.
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Updated November 7
Here is a lunar photo and a wonderful Lunar Eclipse Mosaic from RASC member Murray J. McLeod taken from his back yard in South Calgary.
Click on either image to open a new window with a larger size image.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A80
Telescope: 10" Meade LX200
Eyepiece: 40 mm UWA
Single Moon shot: (point and shoot)
 |
Date/Time: 27/10/2004 10:04:11 PM Shutter Speed: 1/1 Aperture Value: 4.9 Metering Mode: Evaluative Exposure Compensation: +2 ISO Speed: 200 Lens: 7.8 - 23.4 mm Focal Length: 23 mm |
The Mosaic of images below were all taken by Murray through his telescope eyepiece, and he combined the 5 pictures with Photoshop.
The Lunar Eclipse Mosaic picture data (from left to right):
| Time | Shooting Mode |
Shutter Speed |
Aperture Value |
Metering Mode |
ISO Speed |
Lens | Focal Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:09:20 PM | Auto | 1/400 | 2.8 | Evaluative | Auto | 7.8-23.4 mm | 7.8 mm |
| 8:22:24 PM | Night Scene | 1/1 | 2.8 | Evaluative | Auto | 7.8-23.4 mm | 7.8 mm |
| 8:46:52 PM | Night Scene | 1/1 | 2.8 | Evaluative | Auto | 7.8-23.4 mm | 7.8 mm |
| 9:43:45 PM | Night Scene | 1/1 | 2.8 | Evaluative | Auto | 7.8-23.4 mm | 7.8 mm |
| 10:05:59 PM | Program AE | 1/60 | 2.8 | Evaluative | Compensation: +2 ISO 200 |
7.8-23.4 mm | 7.8 mm |
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Updated November 8
Here is a Lunar Eclipse time exposure from RASC member Don Hladiuk taken from his back yard in South Calgary.
Click on the image to open a new window with the full size image.
Camera: Olympus OM1
Film: ASA 400
Time: approximately 4 hour time exposure
Lens setting: f 22
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Updated November 10
Here are 3 excellent eyepiece projection Lunar Eclipse photos from RASC member Keith Armstrong taken from his home in Airdrie.
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Camera: Nikon Coolpix 3200 (handheld) digital camera
Method: eyepiece projection
Telescope: Meade 8" LX50 SCT
Time: 8:45 - 9:15 PM, October 27, 2004
Processing: The original images were quite large (2048x1536) and a bit dark. I have reduced them to 819x614 to save space and download faster, and done a bit of brightening - Larry.
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Updated November 11
Here is an excellent prime focus Lunar Eclipse photo from RASC member Quinn Gibson.
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Camera: Olympus Om-1
Method: prime focus
Film: ASA 400
Exposure: ~ 1 second
Telescope: 120 mm refractor (f8.3)
Processing: None, other than I reduced it in size to save space and download faster - Larry.
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Updated March 22, 2005
I just discovered there was another Lunar Parallax team the same night!
See the Earth Science Picture of the Day http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=221088
for a composite of photos taken from Montreal Canada, Montevideo Uruguay and Selsey, West Sussex, England.
And, a very nice Lunar Eclipse Montage by Philippe Moussette captured from the Observatoire de la Découverte in Quebec
at http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=216352