Today (21 January 2019) was the day (well, it is not really a day, the sun does not rise at all here currently) of a major astronomical event, the next one after the solar eclipse in 2015. The lunar eclipse that was visible in Spitsbergen from approximately 6 a.m. was certainly worth setting the alarm clock for.
Today’s lunar eclipse: the “blood moon” over Longyearbyen.
After a short observation of the initial lunar eclipse over Longyearbyen, we went out into Adventdalen to get further away from the big city lights and to get a natural background for the impressive celestial event.
Lunar eclipse over Adventdalen: the “blood mmoon” over Spitsbergen (I).
The duration of the lunar eclipse was much more agreeable than that of the above-mentioned solar eclipse, the total phase of which did not last longer than 2 minutes and a few seconds. This could make the astro-photographers sweat despite of the temperatures around minus 20 degrees (C) back then.
Mondfinsternis im Adventdalen: der “Blutmond” über Spitzbergen (II).
Not that it was any warmer today, but we could take it with time: the total phase of today’s lunar eclipse was nearly an hour long, so next to taking photos, we could just enjoy the event and a sip of hot chocolate – a very good thing considering the temperature. The stars were amazing, they came out bright and strong due to the reduced moonlight. Very impressive!
Stars during the lunar eclipse in Adventdalen.
Finally, my current ceterum censeo: I have made a new photo book, focussing on aerial photography and thus showing the Arctic from a very unsual perspective. In theory, the book is in German, but in practice, it does hardly have text. 134 out of 137 pages do just have stunning photos, placenames and a little map. Norwegens arktischer Norden (2) – Aerial Arctic shows Jan Mayen and Svalbard from the air.