Super Blue "Blood" Moon Full Lunar Eclipse - January 31, 2018
A "Super" Moon is one which is at its closest position to Earth due to the Moon's elliptical orbit.
Images taken in Jacksonville, Florida.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The moon set on the East Coast before the total eclipse began, so I knew I would only see a partial eclipse. In addition, trees blocked my view of the horizon, so I missed the maximum visible partial eclipse. (The camera is not the best for low light situations, but I captured the essence of what happened.)

The entire moon is still visible at 6:46 a.m. but there is a shadow beginning to appear at the upper left of the orb.
[In a black sky is a grey-white orb. There are dark grey spots on the moon which are probably canyons. At about 11 o'clock there is a dark shadow visible at the moon's edge.]

The partial eclipse began at 6:48a.m. so it's visible at 6:55 a.m. when I shot this image. (The white light at the bottom is a street light, and a power line is visible across the lower portion of the moon.)
[There is a dark shadow across the upper left portion of the moon. The edge of the shadow is fuzzy across the light portion, but the outer edge of the light is no longer visible and blends into the black sky.]

I changed my position which removed the power line from the image, but I wasn't able to remove the street light from the image at 6:59 a.m. The sky was starting to get light from the impending sunrise.
[The moon is now lower in the sky and the lightening from the sun is making the shadows of the tree and the streetlight pole visible. The shadow on the moon has not changed much from the prior photo, but the sky is more of a deep navy blue rather than black.]

I changed my position again and, along with the moon now being lower in the sky, I was able to clear the street light from my image at 7:01 a.m.
[The moon is now below the tops of the trees, but is fully visible between several trees. The shadow on the moon has not changed much from the prior photo, but the moon is now more of a yellow color as the sun's ray become visible in the opposite end of the sky. The canyons on the moon are still a darker color than the rest of the surface. The tree branches and greenery portions are now more visible since the sky is now lighter.]

I took my last shots around 7:02 a.m. The sky was getting light enough and the moon low enough that I decided to go inside and get warm.
[The trees are now much more visible in the image and the green color of the pine needles is becoming evident. The moon is a bright yellow orb with a piece missing in the upper left where the shadow crosses it and pieces missing at the bottom as the lower edge is now below the tree tops and tree branches cross it. The sky is now a steel-grey blue]

The maximum partial eclipse visible in Jacksonville was at 7:10a.m. The moon set at 7:17a.m. which was nearly a half hour before the total eclipse began and also the exact time of sunrise.

Return to top of page.

Return to sky photos index.

All photos © S. M. Garver