On the night of May 15 there was a lunar eclipse. (Quick explination for The Confused: the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow.) Having just purchase my new Sony digital cameron for my trip to Birmingham, I figured it was high time for some rogue digital astrophotography. My set up was dynamite; I was so techo-savvy. Essentially, I was holding the camera over the eyepiece and wiggling it around until I had my target in the viewfinder.
I managed to capture a few decent images. (The one shown here is from the second half where the moon was moving back out of the shadow.) It was quite the enjoyable experience. I had never seen one before as a point of study. Had I ever seen it before I am sure I only looked up and thought, “oh.” For this celestial display I actually took the time to watch the entire event and had my trusty telescope and my trusty digital camera ready to go.
I also had a chance to meet one of my neighbors. He came out to see what I was doing (because nobody goes outdoors here, especially at night!). “What are you doing?” he asked. “Spying on the neighbors,” I responded with a hint of “duh!”. Nick (my now named neighbor) looked at the eclipse with mild interest, chit-chatted for a bit and then returned to his house. I have not seen or spoken to him since, but now I know his name.