Good morning, fellow stargazers!
Late last night and very early this morning, with blessedly clear skies, I was able to capture some really outstanding photos of the November Full Moon and the distant planet Uranus both before and during the last full Lunar Eclipse visible in North America until March 23-24, 2024.
As many of y'all might recall from my previous night sky blog post in May during the Full Flower Blood Moon of 2022, I explained in detail about how a Lunar Eclipse happened when our lovely Luna travels inside the Earth's shadow between our planet and the Sun.
There are two parts to the Earth's shadow: the penumbra (the lighter part) and the umbra (the darker part).
This Lunar Eclipse took place during the November Full Moon in the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 8, 2022. The November Full Moon is known as the Full Beaver Moon in the Northern Hemisphere, making this the Full Beaver Blood Moon.
The moon reached full total eclipse inside the Earth's umbra shadow at about 5:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and lasted about 85 minutes. Here in South Carolina, the full totality of the Lunar Eclipse occurred about an hour before moonset in the west.
The overall Lunar Eclipse took about 5 hours and 53 minutes in total.
The following are photos I took of the Full Beaver Blood Moon between 5:18 a.m. and 5:35 a.m. EST.
The gas giant planet, Uranus, seventh planet of our Solar System, is just barely visible at full magnification about 2 degrees above and to the left of Luna. As you can see in both photos, Uranus appears as a barely visible 5.6 magnitude star alongside the Full Beaver Blood Moon both before and during the Lunar Eclipse.
Late last night and very early this morning, with blessedly clear skies, I was able to capture some really outstanding photos of the November Full Moon and the distant planet Uranus both before and during the last full Lunar Eclipse visible in North America until March 23-24, 2024.
As many of y'all might recall from my previous night sky blog post in May during the Full Flower Blood Moon of 2022, I explained in detail about how a Lunar Eclipse happened when our lovely Luna travels inside the Earth's shadow between our planet and the Sun.
There are two parts to the Earth's shadow: the penumbra (the lighter part) and the umbra (the darker part).
This Lunar Eclipse took place during the November Full Moon in the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 8, 2022. The November Full Moon is known as the Full Beaver Moon in the Northern Hemisphere, making this the Full Beaver Blood Moon.
The moon reached full total eclipse inside the Earth's umbra shadow at about 5:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and lasted about 85 minutes. Here in South Carolina, the full totality of the Lunar Eclipse occurred about an hour before moonset in the west.
The overall Lunar Eclipse took about 5 hours and 53 minutes in total.
The following are photos I took of the Full Beaver Blood Moon between 5:18 a.m. and 5:35 a.m. EST.
The gas giant planet, Uranus, seventh planet of our Solar System, is just barely visible at full magnification about 2 degrees above and to the left of Luna. As you can see in both photos, Uranus appears as a barely visible 5.6 magnitude star alongside the Full Beaver Blood Moon both before and during the Lunar Eclipse.
Uranus
appears more visible with Luna in the Earth's shadow blocking out the
moonlight, although even then spotting the planet would require the aid
of a good camera lens, or pair of binoculars.
Orbiting at 1.8 billion miles (or 2.9 billion kilometers) from the Sun at its closest and 1.89 billion miles (or 3 billion km) away at its farthest, Uranus takes about 84 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun.
Right now Uranus is at its opposition -- its closest approach to Earth in its orbit around the Sun -- at about 1.6 billion miles (or 2.6 billion km) distance, or about 155 light-minutes from Earth.
Orbiting at 1.8 billion miles (or 2.9 billion kilometers) from the Sun at its closest and 1.89 billion miles (or 3 billion km) away at its farthest, Uranus takes about 84 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun.
Right now Uranus is at its opposition -- its closest approach to Earth in its orbit around the Sun -- at about 1.6 billion miles (or 2.6 billion km) distance, or about 155 light-minutes from Earth.
Opposition is actually one of
the best time of year to visibly see our Solar System's
outer planets. From now until Thursday, December 1, 2022, Uranus will be
at its
brightest and can be seen just to the east of the Pleiades Star Cluster.
Tonight (November 8-9th) the Waning Gibbous Moon will lie between both in the sky
dome.
The planet will remain visible in the evening sky through March of 2023, although after this month it will begin to dim just a little so you have to know exactly where to look. Here's a link to a really good sight to help y'all with that.
The planet will remain visible in the evening sky through March of 2023, although after this month it will begin to dim just a little so you have to know exactly where to look. Here's a link to a really good sight to help y'all with that.
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