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Community Corner

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

The night of Friday October 18th, 2013 us Earthlings will be graced with a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse or Partial Eclipse.

This occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into it's Shadow, causing a usually bright Moon to go slightlyΒ  dim and have a reddish tint.Β 

If you would like to get pictures of this event, any camera will do. Of course to get the best experience you should have a Telephoto Lens of the 500 mm or higher variety to capture as much of the Moon's Features and texture as possible.

If you don't have a Camera with such ability, you can take an inexpensive Telescope and mount your Digital Camera onto it's eyepiece and get the picture that way.

Don't rely on your Camera's Auto Shoot Mode only as it doesn't represent the Moon as is, the Camera you use should have a Manual Setting Mode.

Manually focus onto the Moon, using low ISO start with 100, Shutter Speed about 1/100 sec, F/5.6 (Focus Stop), be sure to use a Tripod to reduce Camera Shake or lay against something for support.

It may take some trial and error, so be sure to change these settings and see what works best for you.

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