Night Sky Photography -- 08-28-2026 -- The Near-Total Lunar Eclipse (Full Blood Corn Moon)

The near-total lunar eclipse began the previous evening about 9:30 PM Eastern Time when the outer part of the Earth's shadow (Penumbra) began crossing the Full Corn Moon (or Full Sturgeon Moon) as its called her in North America.

An hour later at about 10:35 PM ET the darker part of the Earth's shadow (Umbra) begins crossing the face of the Moon giving the reddish-orange color to the "Blood Moon" -- this is due to the way the Earth's atmosphere scatters light from the Sun. 

The near-total lunar eclipse reached its peak here in South Carolina at around 12:15 AM Eastern Time when 96% of the lunar surface was covered by the Earth's deep shadow. 

I was worried due to the cloud cover from the summer storms we've been getting in late August that I would be unable to capture any good shots of the Lunar Eclipse this time, however God answered my prayers for a break in the mostly cloudy sky and between the gaps in the cloud cover I was able to capture some shots of the Full Blood Corn Moon at the peak of its beautiful glory.

All of these shots were taken during a three-minute window between breaks in the overcast sky between 12:14 AM to 12:16 AM ET. 

I hope y'all enjoyed my photos of the near-total lunar eclipse and hopefully I'll be blessed with clear skies for upcoming night sky events coming up in September that I can hopefully bring to all of y'all.

Night Sky Photography -- 09-08-2025 -- Full Corn Moon & Saturn

Greetings fellow stargazers!

Late last night I captured these wonderful shots of the planet Saturn with the September full moon -- also known as the Full Corn Moon here in North America.

The Full Corn Moon is the last full moon of summer and this year the September full moon falls before the fall equinox. When the full moon arrives in September after first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, that full moon is the Full Harvest Moon. This year's Harvest Moon will happen in October.

The planet Neptune, the 8th planet in our Solar System, presently lies near Saturn in the night sky -- though it is much too distant for the naked eye to see without a very good telescope and an idea of where it might be.

I labeled the approximate location of Neptune in its relation between the Full Corn Moon and Saturn in the evening sky. At present, the large blue gas giant planet, Neptune, sits about 2.78 billion miles (or 4.475 billion kilometers) from Earth; with the much larger giant planet, Saturn, at about 881 million miles (or 1.42 billion kilometers) from Earth in its present orbit around the Sun.

Once again I hope y'all enjoyed my late-night photographs. I hope to have more soon, so stay tuned and keep watching the night skies, y'all!

Night Sky Photography - 09-06-2017 - The Full Corn Moon (Not the Harvest Moon)

With an overcast sky and a possibility of thunderstorms, I wasn't certain that I would be able to get a good shot of the September full moon. Though I was unable to get a photo of the moonrise just after dusk, I was able to get a great shot through the fork of a tree in my backyard with the clouds giving Luna a nice little background. 

Now many of y'all might recall that last year at this time I managed to get a couple of shots of what was then the September Harvest Moon which can be seen HERE.  

This year however, the September full moon is not the Harvest Moon in the Northern Hemisphere as last year's was and next year's will be. 

The Harvest Moon is actually the full moon closest to the autumn equinox on September 22nd according to the most widely accepted definition of the term. Since the full moon of October 5th will be closer to the September equinox this year, the October 2017 full moon will be the Harvest Moon.
 
Whenever the September full moon is not the Harvest Moon in North America it is commonly referred to as the Corn Moon, or the Fruit Moon.

I hope y'all enjoyed my photo of the Full Corn/Fruit Moon and as always keep your eyes to the skies, y'all!