LUNAtic High
TLDR - Weather cooperated and I finally got a lunar totality imaging session under my belt; eclipse catalog complete.
Few things are more humbling than witnessing an eclipse (solar or lunar). I’d argue that solar totalities are certainly the most profound, but lunar totalities bring with them something uniquely primitive and singular / reflective (badum cha).
After 4 years of “chasing” total lunar eclipses (plagued by seemingly endless weather issues), I finally managed to finish my eclipse catalog. Officially, I’ve now photographed and witnessed all 7 types of eclipses (4 solar & 3 lunar) — many of which required significant amounts of planning (and travel), and spanned a sizable portion of my life. I’m reminded that only a handful of these will occur in my lifetime - and to have experienced them all, I understand with clarity — why they’ve held such a powerful place culturally, and historically.
Total Lunar Eclipse
Scope: William Optics RedCat 51
Camera: ZWO ASI 533MC Pro (.ser capture)
The Gear
Scope: William Optics RedCat 51
Mount: ZWO AM3
Cameras: ZWO ASI 533MC Pro & Sony A7CR (50mm f/1.2)
Totality didn’t peak until just after 4:30am (0433 MST); surprisingly weather was tolerable and warmer than what we usually see this time of year. A few low-level clouds had rolled through during early phasing but it was mostly clear; I underestimated just how dark the moon becomes during totality, so I needed some last minute exposure adjustments to preserve those darkest details.
All in all things went smoothly, my total time on target was roughly two hours with totality taking up approximately 58 minutes of that — the final image you see above is roughly 2500 frames (captured in .ser); I’m happy with the results and stoked to have finally finished the eclipse collection 🤘.
Software workflow for this project:
FireCapture (Capturing) → PIPP (Preprocessing) → AutoStakkert (Stacking) → PixInsight (Sharpening & Editing) → Photomator (Formatting)
*Normally for Lunar & Solar shots on dedicated CCD’s I sharpen with ImPPG, but for totality — BlurXTerminator’s deconvolution produced significantly cleaner results.
A short edit with some bonus timelapses can be seen below.
Clear skies. 🫡
