Thursday, August 02, 2007

Planning for the upcoming Total Lunar Eclipse

Local moonrise time will be 1842 (GMT+8), so no shot is possible before that.

I'll need to attend a class on 1930 (GMT+8), so no shot can be taken afterward, except maybe during the break, but no extensive setup could be done, hand held snapshot is all that will be possible, and I don't think the break will be given before 2023 (GMT+8), so no need to take this route.

So, my observation/imaging window will be from 1842 to 1930 (GMT+8), adding the time for me to tear down the setup and going back to school, I can only do it until around 1910 (GMT+9) at most! A complete red moon can be acquired before 1922 (GMT+8), so within the time window, I can actually only shoot the red moon.

However, since the moon will only appear from the horizon at 1842 (GMT+8), so it will be still in pretty low in the sky even at 1910 (GMT+8)! I think I will need a find a pretty high location or any place which can clear the east. The moon will be pretty dark, I wonder whether rough polar alignment is enough to take it....

Altitude: 8.4 degrees at 1922 (GMT+8), rise to 21.5 degrees at 2023 (GMT+8), so basically no chance.

Not very optimistic. Therefore, I guess I will only take my Konica Minolta Z5, even don't bright a tripod.

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