Full Lunar Eclipse Feb 20/21 / Earth picture Options

[bjb]

I see we have a full lunar eclipse coming on Feb 20/21 (depending where you live).

I know that even during a full eclipse the Moon is still visible with a coppery hue, due to the refraction of light around the Earth.

Now that we have a bunch of probes in orbit of the Moon, is there any plan / is it possible to take an image of the Earth from the Moon during totality? (or has this already been done?)

I would think that a picture of the Earth surrounded by a red ring would be amazing!

[brellis]

I read somewhere that it will be possible to see both the setting sun and the rising orange moon in Los Angeles that evening. I'm curious how high you have to be to get that view - it might be the perfect time to visit Griffith Observatory!

[DDAVIS]

>I read somewhere that it will be possible to see both the setting sun and the rising orange moon in Los Angeles that evening.

And what a sight! It looks like the Moon will just be entering the inner dark shadow as it rises.

>I'm curious how high you have to be to get that view - it might be the perfect time to visit Griffith Observatory!

Griffith might be nice, but I don't recall if the mountains at the observatory block the eastern horizon. I recall hiking to a lookout point a couple miles east of the Observatory when trying to see the clouded out Annular eclipse and we were looking down on it against the city background. I would at any rate suggest getting away from the city lights as much as possible. I fear that only the latter portion of totality will be seen in or close to a night time sky from Southern California. (I am in Palm Springs)

I love Lunar eclipses, the subtle colors visible inside the Earth shadow can be seen by the human eye better than what all but the most dedicated photographic efforts can record. I think rapidly shot RGB filtered grayscale images should do the job but practically all film and most digital images I have seen render the shadows as little more than a garish red orange. I have in the past 30 years of taking down color observations at one time or another seen muted examples of color from the entire spectrum within the umbra region. I have seen some video images which do surprisingly well despite the limited exposure latitude inherent to that medium.

A summary of my observations of the last such eclipse can be seen at the top of this page:

http://www.donaldedavis.com/BM07WEB/BM07page2.html

Earlier Lunar Eclipse observations are at the bottom of this page:

http://www.donaldedavis.com/2003NEW/ASTROOBS2.html
This starts with a made-for-print reproduction oil painting exaggerating the colors, and later digital efforts aspiring to capture a visual impression on the screen.

Don