Preparing for the upcoming lunar eclipse

[kbrown]

Hello,

Weather permitting I'm planning to go and image the upcoming lunar eclipse on Monday morning 21st. I'm thinking of attaching a Canon 60D on my Skywatcher 250PX Newt (10" / 1200mm x 0.9). The entire moon will fit in the image leaving some background around it. The scope will be on an NEQ6 mount which will be guided if I can find a suitable star in the guider scope FOV.

I'd like to take a time lapse of the whole event which I can do using Magic Lantern on the camera. My only concern is the exposure as the brightness of the moon will vary a lot during the eclipse. Do you think I could rely on one the Camera's pre-programmed exposure modes such as the AV mode where everything else is locked except the length of exposure? Obviously this will lead to some flickering in the final result but that can be smoothed out later.

Any other tips are welcomed too!

 

Ta,

Kari

[johnfosteruk]

I think the av mode will overexpose the moon it's nearly filling the frame. I'd get out before hand and test it tbh.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I plan to use manual control through APT.  I aim to use one exposure time for most of the eclipse, switching to a sequence of longer exposure times around totality.

I hope to use my C8 with focal reducer, which should fit the entire moon neatly. Alternatively I will use my APM 80mm F/6 with Meade 2x TeleXtender (like powermate)

[kbrown]

11 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

I think the av mode will overexpose the moon it's nearly filling the frame. I'd get out before hand and test it tbh.

Possibly. You can bias the exposure down a few stops though. I'll do some tests before the event begins. Guess the metering mode will affect things too.

 

4 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

I plan to use manual control through APT.  I aim to use one exposure time for most of the eclipse, switching to a sequence of longer exposure times around totality.

I hope to use my C8 with focal reducer, which should fit the entire moon neatly. Alternatively I will use my APM 80mm F/6 with Meade 2x TeleXtender (like powermate)

What is APT? Sounds like your approach will yield to less flickering.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

5 minutes ago, kbrown said:

Possibly. You can bias the exposure down a few stops though. I'll do some tests before the event begins. Guess the metering mode will affect things too.

 

What is APT? Sounds like your approach will yield to less flickering.

 

APT stands for AstroPhotography Tool

[MilwaukeeLion]

There are some good camera tips from the last lunar eclipse in widefield section.  Below was really nice result posted by mftoet.

 

 

 

[Scooot]

This link is interesting.

https://amazingsky.net/2019/01/01/photographing-the-total-eclipse-of-the-moon/