The August Sturgeon Moon was the big event of the week. I was excited to be able to watch the partial eclipse.
I raced up to the ridge and caught the full moon rising over the cropland.
As darkness settled in the moon lit up the night sky with a brilliant orange.
At home, I prepared two cameras so I could shoot two different scenes at once. One camera with the long lens set up for just shooting the moon.
My other much older camera set up to shoot [hopefully] stars.
I'd never tried shooting star trails during a full moon. The dogs joined me in the yard and trotted around with their collar lights. They were not too interested in what I was doing even though I explained in great detail about the camera settings and how everything worked.
At least when I talk out loud, I can say that I'm talking to the pups and not to myself.
As I started photographing the eclipse, my cohorts asked to go in and sleep on their blankets. Kids!
I had one camera in the driveway and the other one at the edge of the pasture pointed at the house.
Imagine my surprise when I actually was able to 'do' a star trail with the bright moon shining! [plus satellite and plane trails].
I was ecstatic. I had always thought that one couldn't shoot star trails unless one had perfectly dark skies.
Well.
I guess that is a fallacy.
The moon slowly started to enter earth's shadow.
I set a timer for every 20 minutes to take a shot of the changing moon.
I walked back and forth between the two places I had cameras set up. I drank decaf coffee to keep awake [and yes, it helped].
As the moon got darker and darker I fiddled around and finally got a decent set up for the next star trail looking north from the other side of the house.
The dogs asked to come out for another inspection. I think if they could have talked they'd have demanded that I come in and go to bed.
I watched the moon became a sliver.
And then I noticed something very unusual.
I could see the Milky Way. I could SEE the Milky Way on a Full Moon night.
So I took this shot. Not great, but one can see the light of the partial moon and the Milky Way.
I was breathless. The shot didn't turn out very well, but still...it was something you never can see during a full moon.
I was done in by this time and the heavy dew was getting my cameras wet, so I called it a night.
Of course I couldn't just go to bed, I was too wired up. I decided to review my photos right then.
The final composite of the moon
shots put together in one frame.
It will be a night I won't forget.
I didn't go to bed until about 2AM. [up at 5:30!]
How lucky was I that I could stand in my driveway and watch this event take place.
The last time I'd photographed a lunar eclipse was May 26, 2021. I caught part of the eclipse while hiking to the top of a bluff in the dark and getting a shot as the moon was heading west and the sun was rising.
It was called the Super Blood Moon/Flower Moon.👇
