Super Moon - Blue Moon

Super Moon - Blue Moon – Blood Moon

Yes, all of the above! How rare is that? Anyway, let me briefly explain what all the moon stuff means. Just in case you somehow missed all the news. The super moon is a full moon which happens when the moon’s elliptical orbit is the closest to the earth’s orbit. The full moon appears a little bigger and brighter than other full moons. When a full moon occurs twice in a calendar month, the second one is called a blue moon. They occur every couple of years. Depending on where you are, you might see another one in March. There won’t be a full moon in February this year. Finally, a blood moon happens during a total lunar eclipse when the moon is completely in the earth’s shadow. The last time all three occurred together in the US was 150 years ago!

So where I am, in Eastern California, the eclipse started around 5 am. That’s Arizona time. Don’t ask! Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be around for the next one and even though I hate to get up that early, I wasn’t about to miss this historic event. Sheila (Hive account@swedegis) gave me a poke at 5 and said that it’s starting. So I dragged my sleepy butt out of bed, made some coffee, grabbed my camera at headed out front to record history.

Most photographers would have planned their setup the night before… camera equipment, camera settings, location, etc. Not me. Just totally winged it. Because who knows, it could be cloudy and all the preps would have been a waste. So my first shots were handheld. When the coffee finally kicked in, I realized that I had a perfectly good tripod inside so why not use it. I stayed out until the sun came up and the moon was close to the horizon.

The moon is starting into the earth's shadow.