Lunar eclipse

A once-in-a-lifetime lunar event happened this weekend.  The September 2015 full moon was a 'super moon', when the moon is at it's closest point to the earth in it's orbit.  Only 7% closer, but when the moon is on the horizon it certainly looks bigger than usual.

Saturday evening we zipped out onto the lake in the pontoon to snap a few photos of the moonrise.

Sunday evening we were treated to a complete lunar eclipse - and at a reasonable hour.   No trying to get up at 3AM for a glimpse.  The eclipse began as we were driving home from the Lake.  Clouds were gathering to the north, but cleared as we drove south.  The farm fields gave enough clear viewing that we were able to keep an eye on the disappearing orb in the sky.

At home in the city the trees are so tall and close to the house that we had a difficult time seeing. But the skies were still clear.  Finally, I had enough sense to grab a camera tripod and walk down the block and across the street to get a clear view of the moon, just as it reached total eclipse.  For those of you who had a cloudy evening -  here's what it looked like from Bloomington.  The photo was taken with the 'fireworks' setting on the camera.

It was so tempting to howl at the moon just for fun!  And I think some appropriate music for watching an eclipse would have been nice...Moon River?  Moonlight Serenade?  Cat Stevens- Moonshadow or Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon?

I skipped out again just before heading to bed, and snapped this shot as the eclipse was nearly over.  The moon was too bright for the fireworks setting, so I tried 'night landscape' which had a shorter exposure time.