Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)

Full Moon And Lunar Total Eclipse, 31 January 2018

Full moons occurred on 01 and 31 January 2018. On the second event of the month, a lunar total eclipse also took place, with event times (UT) as follows (from the BAA Handbook for 2018):

• P1 = 10:51:15
• U1 = 11:48:27
• U2 = 12:51:47
• GE = 13:31:00
• U3 = 14:07:51
• U4 = 15:11:11
• P4 = 16:08:27

The combination of a second full moon during a month plus a lunar eclipse proved irresistible to the media. Amid the various terms used to hype the event were: blue moon, blue blood moon, super blue blood moon and blue supermoon!

Fortunately, the sky on the evening of 31 January - 01 February was clear, and members of OASI captured the following images (taken on 31 January except where stated otherwise).

1. James Appleton, 23:23 UT. Canon EOS, 300 mm lens, f/6.3, 1/4000 s exposure, ISO 800. Sharpened in GIMP2.8.
2. Mike Whybray. Full moon rising off Landguard Fort, Felixstowe. Canon EOS 550D with Vivitar 300 mm, F5.6 telephoto. 1/125 s exposure at ISO 1600.
3. Martin Cook, 18:55 UT. Canon EOS 1100D with EF75-300 mm f/4-5.6 USM lens at 300 mm, F11, 1/100 s exposure, ISO 800. Cropped and levels adjusted in Photoshop cs5.
4. Andy Gibbs. Canon 1200D, Sigma 70-300 mm lens at 300 mm, F11, 1/125 s exposure at ISO 100. Image straight from the camera. The blue hue is due to the use of tungsten light setting.
5. Andy Gibbs. Equipment as previous image. 1/125 s, ISO 200. Tweaked in Photoshop to sharpen and remove the blue hue.
6. Ian Hastie. Canon 1200D, 300 mm lens, f/8, 1/640 s, ISO 1000.
7. Adam Honeybell. Canon 7D camera.
8. Mike Norris, 01 February. Full moon setting. Compact camera.
9. Gerry Pilling. Hand-held camera.
10. Paul Whiting, FRAS, 30 January. Almost-full moon over Tromsø Bridge. Nikon D3200 camera, 300 mm lens, F/5.6, ISO 400, 1/200 s.
11. Paul Whiting, FRAS. Full moon setting over Havøysund. Equipment as previous image. ISO 2800, 1/125 s.
12. Paul Whiting, FRAS. Equipment as previous image. ISO 3200, 1/60 s. 3^rd contact.
13. Paul Whiting, FRAS. Equipment as previous image; taken 13 minutes later. ISO 6400, 1/50 s.
14. John & Sandra Barnet-Lamb. Hand-held Canon camera.
15. John & Sandra Barnet-Lamb. Hand-held Canon camera. Between 1^st and 2^nd contacts.
16. John & Sandra Barnet-Lamb. Taken 20 minutes after the preceding photo.
17. John & Sandra Barnet-Lamb. Taken 25 minutes after the preceding photo, close to 2^nd contact.
18. Andy Willshere. Taken from Australia, with a basic compact camera.
19. Andy Willshere. Taken from Australia, with a basic compact camera.

Original: emails
Updated: 26 March 2023