Total lunar eclipse

The old adage about the stars being aligned applied only too well for tonight's total lunar eclipse. After work Sarah and I managed to find a good spot and enjoyed the event together and with some passers by.

Skip to the photos or see my digital astrophotography gallery

After inhaling a lightning fast dinner at home we packed up the telescope, spotting scope, camera and bundled up for the evening. We drove downtown just after 6pm and could see a chunk of the Moon already covered by the Earth's shadow. The location we chose to observe from was the top floor of the Tacoma Dome transit station parking garage. Soon after complete assembly of the telescope we were approached by a security guard who, although understanding, needed us to pack back up. Without a special permit to star gaze from a nearly empty lot we were on the same plane as a man who recently committed suicide from the same garage. We thanked him for his kindness and took off down Dock Street toward the Museum of Glass.

We parked the car just beyond Thea's Landing condos and quickly grabbed the equipment and headed toward the waterfront walkway. It only took us a couple minutes to be set up and gazing at a now nearly completely covered Moon. As the event progress we encouraged passers by to have a look and took the opportunity to do a bit of education. Everyone seemed really fascinated and was even surprised to learn that an eclipse was even happening.

Once the frustration of being shuffled away from the parking garage died down I really enjoyed our view from the waterfront as did Sarah. We met a really great family who came by twice to have a look through the scope. The young boy with them might present some of my photos from the night at his school so I best stop writing and get on with the photos. Enjoy!

Comments (10) | To Top

10/27/2004 @ 11:21pm

As always, beautiful photos! I particularly like #7. I only got to see a bit of the process, but it was spectacular.

by Dave

10/28/2004 @ 11:09am

Sooo beautiful. I agree about #7 but I'm partial to #4, too. And yours are better than the Tribune!

by Lori V

10/28/2004 @ 11:43am

Wow. Whenever there is astronomical photography bacon to bring home, you're the one to do it. Splendid work again. My nod goes to #7 as well, although #3 is a close second. The JPG compression artifacts at the bottom of #4 are a bit much for me.

I got to see this in person last night when after a rather spontaneous phone call from Kelly at her board meeting. They were taking a break so they could all go outside and watch the eclipse. Sweet.

by Matt Turner

10/28/2004 @ 11:46am

Check out the ones in my astrophotography gallery under the "Projects" link above. There a bit higher resolution and not as heavily compressed.

It was a beautiful night to see the eclipse from here and it's pretty amazing how gazing at a celestial event still seems to capture the imagination of the masses.

by KevinFreitas

10/28/2004 @ 11:54am

I liked the one with Sarah in it the best!!! Wasn't the color just spectacular when it turned rosy?

Mom

by Kathy Freitas

10/28/2004 @ 12:12pm

Really stunning! It was pretty impressive through the telescope as it seemed to highlight some of the subtlety of the event really nicely.

The area we viewed from was nearly daylight from surrounding lights so I'm sure it would've been even crisper from an area with darker skies.

by KevinFreitas

10/29/2004 @ 7:38am

Great photos of the special event. I've only seen a handful in my lifetime and not any nearly as good as this one. Great job.

by Stephie

10/29/2004 @ 12:37pm

Very cool pictures. Alas, I missed something I promised myself to see firsthand. Glad you captured it for us.

by Cully

11/2/2004 @ 8:51am

I'm partial to #6 & #8 . . . there's something mysterious and forboding about them. Great story to go along with the fantasic pics. (Who knew you could be banned from looking at the sky?)

by Holly

11/3/2004 @ 7:27pm

Thank you for letting me print the pictures of your website. They were really good; I showed them to my class, they thought they were cool! Thanks a lot!

by Alexander