The eclipsed red Moon rises over the waters of Lake Macquarie on the east coast of Australia.
I was still in Australia for this eclipse and managed to see and shoot it, but only just!
I was on the Central Coast of New South Wales, where clouds and rain have been prevalent all week, in part caused by departing remnants of Cyclone Ita. The prospects for seeing this eclipse from the coast looked bleak indeed.
From eastern Australia, the Moon rose at sunset in mid-eclipse on our evening of April 15. I was with family in Australia and so we made an evening picnic of the event, joining a few others in the lakeside park who were there to also see the eclipsed Moon over Lake Macquarie, Australia’s largest salt water lake. I wanted to catch this eclipse over water, to see the effect above — the “glitter path” from the Moon but one turned red by the eclipsed Moon.
As we were about to give up, I caught sight of the Moon as it rose into breaks in the cloud, revealing the red Moon near Spica and Mars. We saw the last of totality and the early stages of the final partial eclipse. But later in the evening clouds rolled in again and the rain poured down. Indeed, I took my last images of the eclipse with light rain falling and the cameras getting wet. This isn’t the first eclipse I’ve watched in the rain!
I shot with fixed cameras with 50mm and 135mm lenses. The top image is a 135mm telephoto shot, the other three are with the 50mm lens.
— Alan, April 16, 2014 / © 2014 Alan Dyer
The Amazing Sky 
Nice pics Alan.
We understand now why you love to be “Down under”. We have been renting telescope time at Sliding Springs Observatory. So many new wonders to discover, especially when using a wide field 150mm TAK or the half meter Planewave telescopes. Nebula jump to life through the Planewave teles.
Things were not much better in Alberta, Alan. We got lucky too, the clouds moved in at 12:45 and only parted for about an hour at 2 AM. Most of Western Canada was cloudy, East of the Hat was blowing at 50+ with temps into the low minus teens. Not conducive for astrophotography.
Hope your having a great trip, All the best;
Kevin & Marion
Thanks! I visited the iTelescope array on Siding Spring and it was very impressive. I have some points to my credit to use when I get home to continue to observe under Aussie skies.
Great photos from down-under, Alan. Loved the glitter path effect. I watched the eclipse here in Alberta (Didsbury), until the clouds took over, though this time I did not take any photos.
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to take a whole series throughout the eclipse of the time, from my balcony in the river valley in Edmonton. Not professional like yours – but fun all the same.
Thanks for the images – Alan!…I too stayed up and watched the lunar eclipse from midnight for a couple of hours and it was sure a great moment in time to see a spectacular sight!
Beautiful pictures and story of such an historic moment in time. Thanks for sharing!