Lunar Eclipse Feb 21, 2008

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About this Image

The total Eclipse this February lasting for 50 minutes is the last total eclipse visible from central Europe till the year 2011, the next fully visible eclipse of the Moon takes place in 2015.
It is the 60th eclipse of Saros cycle 121. The Moon's totality is lasting from 03h00 UT till 03h50 UT.

To show the view as seen from the eyepiece of a telescope a longer set of LRGB exposures each 5 min was combined with the eclipsed Moon. A lot of background stars and some galaxies are visible with this technique.

 


Technical Details
Optics

Eclipsed Moon: TEC-140 with TEC flattener at f/7
Star background: 16" cassegrain in primary focus at f/3

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera Eclipsed Moon: Canon 40D in raw mode
Star background: SBIG STL-11000M at -30C, internal filter wheel
Filters Stars: Astronomik LRGB
Date Feb 21, 2008 03h10-03h20 UT.
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions average seeing, high transparency, temperature 0 C
Exposure Canon 40D: 4 x 3 sec at ISO 200 for eclipsed Moon
STL-11000: L:R:G:B = 5:5:5:5 min for star background (5 min subexposures)
Processing Canon: images remotely captured; raw to tif and further processing in PS CS3
STL: Image aquisition and calibration in Maxim, layering of exposures, color balance, unsharp mask in Photoshop;
north is up;