Total Lunar Eclipse 3.-4. March 2007

Ole Nielsen, J.-L. Dighaye

The total lunar eclipse in the night from 03 to 04 March 2007 was observed by many EurAstro members.Here a report from local chairman Ole Nielsen:

Good luck here in the Netherlands during the national stargazing days. A vicious little low pressure system past over during daytime but near midnight the sky really cleared up providing a splendid view of the eclipsed moon. I made pictures at Rob Lefeber in 's Gravenzande near Hoek van Holland. Rob is the chairman of the Dutch Astrophotography Association (and the owner of Robtics astroshop). Details: C5 at f/6.3, Canon 350D, ISO 200, 8 sec.

Central chairman Jean-Luc Dighaye reports his Belgian observations:

The sky was generally clear at LAC - sometimes with clouds or haze. I took many images and I observed with 15x50 image-stabilised binoculars and with freshly re-coated "Albert" at 90x450. In the latter, the eclipsed Moon looked quite bright, with plenty of stars, galaxies and even an asteroid nearby - only a composite image can show that impression; single images taken with the 520/2.7 astrograph don't show deep-sky objects, or they are overexposed. In fact, though, the eclipse was a rather dark one, maximum 2.5 on the Danjon scale. Using a Celestron 8, I took near-infrared images before and during totality with the modified Canon 5D, and true colour images after totality with the 1DsII. Composite images have stretched dynamic ranges to show both umbra and sunlit portions.

TLE110

TLE of 03-04 March 2007 from LAC, Belgium, using a C8.
Upper and medium rows: modified Canon 5D, 21:12, 22:11, 23:24, 00:07 UTC.
Lower row: Canon 1DsII, 00:20 & 00:38.