2007 March 04 @ 01:02. George writes: "It seems that the whole earth was covered in clouds last night. It was no different up here in Rustenburg. Maybe we can call it the "Eclipse of the Gaps". This was the last photo I managed, taken at 1:02am 4 March 2007. The moon completely disappeared after this."

Three prominent stars nicely frame the eclipsed Moon; at top is HD 94780 (V=9.2), on the right is SAO 118588 (V=9.4), and left-most is BD+08 2431 (V=9.5). Of special interest is the 10th magnitude stellar point near the lower middle of the image – this is minor planet (16) Psyche, which is a few days shy of its 155th anniversary (discovered March 17, 1852 in Naples).

Canon EOS 350D, at prime focus of Meade SCT LX90 (with focal reducer), 10 seconds @ ISO 200, telescope tracking. Contrast and brightness enhanced, image sharpened.

© G. Liakos 2007

Keywords: Astronomy, astrophotography, total lunar eclipse

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