Eclipse Minus the Moon

With the lunar eclipse moving in over the area I had planned on doing some night photography tonight. Of course wouldn't you have it, a clipper system moved in earlier in the day dropping temperatures considerably. I had already been out once today, and now the temperature would be a good deal cooler, and I'd have no warm sun rays. The eclipse was set to peak around 9:30 CST so I headed out the door around 8:00.

I wasn't sure where I wanted to head so I just started driving east back in the direction of Homer Lake, where I had been earlier in the day. I found a decent spot with not too much light pollution and a decent view of the sky with some not so bland topography.

With the lens I'd be using, getting some really good shots of the eclipsing moon would be hard so I decided to enjoy the eclipse myself and let others capture photos, while I focused on getting some shots of the night sky in general. Temperatures now were near zero so everything had to be done in quick bursts between sitting in the car and warming up. I was wearing double layers of everything but that didn't seem to do a lot to combat the cold which was really biting.
The first two shots above are looking south down the country road that I had pulled off on south of Ogden. The constellation Orion is visible in the top shot.



The red glow in that top photo is actual from Danville, which is a good 30 miles away from this location, and not related to the sun. The Big Dipper is pretty evident in that same shot. Below that is another zoomed in shot of the Orion constellation. If it were warmer I'd have tried to get a little more artsy or tried more with Star trails.

This was about as bad a night for night photography as I can think of, unless maybe we added in some sideways precipitation. I couldn't take anymore of the cold and was thoroughly frozen through so once the eclipse hit it's peak I headed back home to warm up for the night. Congrats to everyone who nabbed actual shots of the Moon, unlike myself.