Silver Moon in Golden Garb

The Total Lunar Eclipse on 09. November 2003 in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain, Germany

Experience Report

Unusually for November already for several days a mild sunny late autumn weather prevailed, with yellow colored forests and blue skies of most beautiful kind before the total lunar eclipse, which should take place at the night of 8th to 9th November 2003.

Also on Saturday 8. November 2003 the sun shone from a deep blue sky over the Rhine Main area and the prospects for the observation of the lunar eclipse were very good. Lunar Eclipse fever – pleasant anticipation arose.

In the afternoon some clouds came up from the south, but it was still about 10 hours to go for the lunar eclipse, thus no serious fears to preserve. But it continued to intensify. Sunset and moonrise, and many large-scaled more or less thick veils of clouds, thicker than cirres, but nevertheless still high and thin enough, to let one be able to recognize the moon between the clouds in the early evening. The situation continued to worsen and the moon disappeared. Only the bluish glow of the full moon light penetrated through the cloud cover. That was however very high, because from southeast flying airplanes could still to be seen further by their landing lights.

A short car drive through the town due to a bowl evening with friends, but unfortunately not without windshield wipers. Now it also had begun to rain! And when one after the other bowl rolled up to all nine pins, I did not think any more about the moon, the clouds and the rain, and how it may have looked like outside. These thoughts came back me only as the tiredness of the involved ones terminated the rolling of the bowls. And outside before the hall: See like it is now. The high to medium high clouds showed numerous several degrees large gaps and were partly so thin, that the moon looked against us. Fast the clouds moved over it from the south. Also no problem, when it consolidated again some minutes later. Numerous cloud holes let at least a 50/50 chance for the observation of the totality be assumed.

The not perceptible beginning of the penumbral eclipse still began behind high clouds, but the view around 23:30 CET showed completely similarly as on 30. October before the observation of the north lights narrow dark ranges approx.. 10 degrees over the Dreieichenhain forest in the south. Verified briefly by binoculars: Yes, a star could be seen inside of it.

Now I positioned my equipment on the balcony. The usual instruments were used: a Celestron C5 (f=1250mm, D=125mm) with tracking, a Revue refractor (f=910mm, D=60mm) and a SkyWatcher refractor (f=700mm, D=70mm), the refractors parallelly installed on an ash wood tripod. For the photography I used my Canon EOS500N, later also my Sony DCR-VX700 video camera.

About 23:50 CET the moon went through the last fleecy cloud fields, which touched from the south over the moon. An optimal sky for eclipse observation: broad wide-area clear cloud holes, a few decorations by medium high clouds, partly bank-like arranged fleecy clouds with clear tendency of dissolution.

Now the moon was completely free, the penumbra eclipse already identifiable at the left top edge of the moon as a light shading. My first image: focally with 2x tele converter through the Revue refractor. 1820mm without tracking, adjustment and focusing by positioning of the camera on a tripod, connected with the telescope just by a loosely sitting cardboard tube. Vibration safe, but needing exercise. It took minutes up to the respective readjustment. In the course of the eclipse hours the exercise came back, and the alignment succeeded faster and faster.

0:32 CET. With the entry into the umbra of Earth the first partial phase began. Already before, the penumbral eclipse had clearly visibly eaten into the moon. Now the umbra began to take the moon from minute to minute. A small segment at the upper lunar limb was missing. Silver moon eclipsified shines over the night sky of Dreieichenhain!

Partial Eclipse, a fantastic impression in the binoculars. Still another few small groups of clouds moving beside the moon, a decoration for this silver jewel in the sky. None made it to veil its brilliance. Then the moon with its recess stands again there alone.

So round this umbra is. In the meantime it laid over the center of the moon’s disk and the remaining crescent looks upwards with its horns. Like earthshine the dark side of the moon is visible. I dare an experiment and expose a cutout of the moon, which only at the edge of the image shows the transition to the crescent, but centrally shows the shaded side of the moon, some 8 and 15 seconds exposed. During the totality I would like to expose some 30 seconds.

First partial phase

First partial phase

on 09. November 2003 00:29 CET, taken in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain with a Canon EOS500N focally through a Revue refractor (f=910mm, D=60mm) with Canon 2x tele converter, 1/45 second exposed on Fuji400 negative film. The focusing was made by positioning of the tripod, on which the camera was separately installed. A cardboard tube protected against disturbing beams of light.

First partial phase

First partial phase

on 09. November 2003 01:35 CET, taken in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain with a Canon EOS500N focally through a Celestron C5 telescope (f=1250mm, D=125mm), approx.. 12 seconds exposed on Fuji400 negative film. In order to let the vibrations by the lifting up mirror decay, the lens first was covered with a cardboard.

Differently than at a solar eclipse during a lunar eclipse there is unhurriedly time to change the optics of the camera because of the longer duration of totality. So I could use the following focal lengths for photography: 1820, 1250, 910, 600, 300, 75, 60, 50 and 24mm. Nevertheless the moments briefly before and briefly after beginning and end of the totality with their strong changes of light and lunar eclipse diamond rings also take only a few minutes.

Now the first one of these exciting phases began. The color splendour of the dark moon side could be seen. On the left the still the more and more narrowly becoming roundness, on which last sunlight fell on the moon. Now the stars could be seen clearer. In the binoculars and in the SkyWatcher the stars sparkled directly in moon proximity. A marvelous view. The silver moon in the meantime peeled and now in golden brilliance like a dinner plate, which presented itself to the right, to the center of the umbra, colored in clearly darker brownish red, in the sky over Germany, Europe and the half Earth.

Only a matt grey-green disk could be recognized through the viewfinder of the Canon, that somehow swallowed the red. But the view through binoculars or SkyWatcher, but also with the naked eye also shows the red tones. Totality. Total and beautiful. Around the middle of the eclipse at 02:18 CET the contrast in the moon became a little bit weaker, the gold-yellow portions decreased in favour of the red-brown. No more shadows in the full moon light, therefore bright stars. Hyades, pleiades and the moon totality form a triangle, which excellently finds place in the cutout of a 50mm image.

Total lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse

on 09 November 2003 02:20 CET, taken in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain with a Canon EOS500N focally through a Celestron C5 telescope (f=1250mm, D=125mm), approx. 12 seconds exposed on Fuji400 negative film . In order to let the vibrations by the lifting up mirror decay, the lens was covered first with a cardboard.

Telescopes during totality

Telescopes during totality

on 09 November 2003 02:29 CET, taken in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain with a Canon EOS500N and Canon 24-85mm-wide angle lens at 24mm and f3.5, 15 seconds exposed Fuji400 negative film.

And already the maximum is over, I take one picture after the other, no time to get bored. And cold weather? No problem, warmly dressed and the living room visited now and then. Also from there: The view through the rooflight, the eclipse continues to accompany me.

A few early lebkuchen of the season as antilunch, and outside the lunar eclipse. A 400 ASA film after the other leaves exposed my camera. I would not have thought that I would take so many pictures. But it should be clear, because it is the first time that I have the opportunity to be able to photograph the red moon under best observation conditions with a tracking equipment. And there I do not let it escape and do it at different focal lengths: 1250, 600, 300, 75, 60 and 50mm, and then also with foreground, without adjusting at 24mm.

Egress. The second partial phase begins. Again a wonderful diamond ring, now the lens of the eclipse eye on the left side. In the course of the next half hour a crescent opens, with the horns to the right, parallel to the horizon. It stands in the southwestern sky, already some degrees deeper than at the beginning of the eclipse, where the moon stood high in the south. It becomes brighter, the moon again throws shadows. The darkness, the golden brilliance and the sparkling stars of the totality are over. The stars fade more and more in the bright becoming moon light. At 04:05 CET again the penumbral phase has been reached. The moon attains its completeness again. The video camera, of which I had not thought at all at the beginning, was used starting from the second partial phase, mounted piggyback on the SkyWatcher, reaching with 2x tele converter about 860mm small picture focal length.

Lunar eclipse in Taurus

Lunar eclipse in Taurus

on 09. November 2003 02:48 CET, taken in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain with a Canon EOS500N and Canon 24-85mm wide angle zoom at 60mm and f4.0, 30 seconds exposed on Fuji400 negative film.

Second partial phase

Second partial phase

on 09. November 2003 03:49 CET, taken in Dreieich Dreieichenhain with a Canon EOS500N focally through a Revue refractor (f=910mm, D=60mm) with Canon 2x tele converter, 1/15 second exposed on Fuji400 negative film. The focusing was done by positioning of the tripod, on which the camera was separately installed. A cardboard tube protected against disturbing beams of light.

Gradually also the penumbra eclipse evaporated. I collected my instruments. Around 04:30 MEZ it was so bright, that the scattered moon light in the northeast and the east was noticeable to me. Is there already is the dawn, or unexpectedly again northern lights? No it will simply only be the very bright scattered moon light…

That was the total lunar eclipse on 9. November 2003 in Dreieich-Dreieichenhain. It took place only one day before passage of the moon by the farthest-from-Earth point of its orbit (apogee). Since the conic section of the umbra of the Earth is smaller there than in the near Earth ranges of the lunar orbit, a quite high percentage of the umbra of the Earth fell at the same time on the moon, and consequently larger umbra ranges of different light intensity during these moon totality. Thus one could see more contrasts in the totally eclipsed moon, than possible during most other total lunar eclipses, which succeeded to me outstandingly with these ideal weather conditions.

Stephan Heinsius, Dreieich, 09. November 2003, addition by pictures on 15. November 2003.