These are pictures I took of the Dec. 21, 2010 lunar eclipse.
They were taken with a Fujifilm Finepix 12mp dgital camera
through an 8-inch Skywatcher telescope.

You'll notice the moon turns a reddish-orange as it nears totality;
this is the result of the sunlight being refracted through the Earth's atmosphere.

Enjoy!

1:35 A.M.

It's just starting. This and the next two pictures have some glare from the moonlight; it gets better.

1:45 A.M.

2:15 A.M.

About halfway there...

2:35 A.M.

Little more than three-quarters...
I changed my camera angle, in case you noticed the crescent changed position.

2:40 A.M.

Almost there; it looks like Mars.

2:45 A.M.

So close, another 20 minutes.
To the left you can see two stars the camera picked up; I could see plenty.

2:50 A.M.

This and the picture after it were taken at the same time with two different shutter speeds.

3:00 A.M.

Another 15 or so minutes...

3:15 A.M.

Total eclipse.

3:17 A.M.

Total eclipse, and the last picture that had any light to develop for a bit.

3:40 A.M.

Just starting to come out of the eclipse, and probably the best shot I took all night.

4:00 A.M.

And so ends the last lunar eclipse to happen on the winter solstice for the next while!

I sent of the pictures in to the local newpaper at about 5:00 A.M.,
figuring they probably were already swamped with lots of pictures,
probably all better than mine.
Well, I guess not...

        The End.