Shadowy Moon

  

Lucky that I looked at the Moon when I did early this morning.  I checked a little bit later to try to see the Moon emerging from the shadow and it was completely fogged in!

This photo is from a little after 3:30 a.m. PST. 

Crescent sun

  

I thought it was going to be too foggy for us to see the solar eclipse this morning, so I almost forgot to look for it.  Luckily our neighbor was in the yard checking it out.  Some of the clouds opened up a bit just in time, so I snapped a quick photo for the record.  

Partial solar eclipse photographed (with a filter) from Cotati at 9:20 a.m. on 14 October 2023.

Just before bed

Whoops, here's an update!  We finally we were able to see the moon just before 9:30 p.m.  Here's a quick shot for the record:

 

 

Written earlier at 9:15 p.m. -- Well, I was hoping to see the lunar eclipse tonight, but I'm not sure I'll be able to stay up late enough.  It's 9:15 p.m. and we can't see it yet in Cotati, and we have to wake up very early tomorrow morning for field work.  So for now here's a quick photo of the moon from this morning at ~5 a.m.  I hope others are able to see the eclipse tonight!

A softer view

  

Well, I tend to be an early-to-bed-early-to-rise sort of person, so I wasn't sure if I'd catch the eclipse early this morning.  But I woke up and looked at my watch a little after midnight, so here you go!  For the record, a view of the partial lunar eclipse from Cotati, 19 November 2021.  It was mostly cloudy at the time, but there were brief glimpses of the moon in the breaks between clouds.  A softer view of our orbiting friend.

Early morning bonus

  

This morning we had to get up at ~4 a.m. for low tide field work, but what a bonus that there was a lunar eclipse at that time!  Here's a quick shot from Cotati at a little after 4 a.m., just before the eclipse reached its maximum.

P.S.  Pelagic week will continue tomorrow!

Just in time!

 

The clouds cleared just in time to see the lunar eclipse!  Photographed from Cotati at ~9:20 p.m. PST on 20 January 2019.

Chasing the moon

I chased the full moon around Cotati this morning, trying to find clear patches of sky (without fog) where I could photograph it.  I might try to put together a photo montage, but for now here are a few of my favorite pictures from 31 January 2018:


4:11 a.m.

 

5:25 a.m.

 

6:02 a.m.

 

6:20 a.m. 

 

6:58 a.m.

 

Quite a lunar experience!  Super moon, blue moon, and blood moon, all at once!

 

Sol-ano Eclipse

We couldn't make it to Oregon for the total solar eclipse, but we wanted to watch from northern California.  At this time of year, we realized it wasn't likely that the coast would be clear, but we hoped that we could watch from an inland site in Sonoma County.  

The weather forecast looked good over the weekend, but when we checked again this morning, the clouds weren't predicted to clear from Sonoma County until after noon!  So we reviewed the hourly forecasts to find the westernmost site that would be clear by mid-morning.  Then we headed to a location in northwestern Solano County.

It turned out to be worth the drive.   We arrived around 10 a.m. (after the eclipse had started) and watched as the moon's silhouette crossed the sun, with the eclipse peak at ~10:15 a.m.  We left to go back to work when the moon's silhouette was just covering the bottom left corner of the sun.  Here's a sequence (read like a book) that spans from 10:05 a.m. to 11:08 a.m. PDT:

 

The top right and the bottom left images bracket the maximum extent of the eclipse in our area.  Coverage at that time was approximately 80%.

It was fun and inspiring to experience the planetary wonder of the Great American Eclipse of 2017.  [See you in Vermont for the total solar eclipse in 2024!]

In the shadow

The full moon at 8:58 p.m. EDT:

 

At 10:06 p.m. EDT, with the majority obscured:

 

And at 10:16 p.m. EDT:

 

We felt lucky to be in New Hampshire on a clear night for this amazing lunar eclipse!

CORRIGENDUM (28 September 2015): I corrected the time of the first photo to 8:58 p.m.  (I just made a mistake when typing it in.)  Thanks to Peter for catching this mistake!

Crescent of fire

 

View of a partial solar eclipse from Bodega Head on 20 May 2012.

Photos were taken between 6:01 p.m. and 6:54 p.m.  They are in chronological order, starting in the upper left corner and ending in the lower right.  The center images were taken at 6:29 and 6:31 p.m., the peak of the eclipse in our area.  During the eclipse, ambient light levels became noticeably dimmed.

At sites further north in California, an annular eclipse produced a complete "ring of fire", but at our latitude/longitude the eclipse was more like a "crescent of fire."

The silhouette of the moon moved across the sun from the southeast quadrant towards the northwest quadrant.  You can see it coming in from the lower right and leaving from the upper left.

Quite a sight!