Penumbral Eclipse 5th of May 2023

Its a year for eclipses and last night saw an eclipse type I hadn't photographed before!

I didn't really know what to expect so I grabbed a photography buddy and headed out bush to see what we could see.

A penumbral eclipse is not like a total eclipse at all and we were scratching our heads for a bit wondering when it would start. Turns out we were looking at it, but its very hard to see with the naked eye. we didn't stay for the totality as it was getting really cold but we did capture the tiny bit of shadowing that you see in the side by side comparison. these were the same settings, just slightly apart timewise so you can see the very subtle dark shading on the moon’s face (more to the right of the moon in this image)

In a lunar eclipse, Earth’s shadow falls on the moon. And if the moon passes through the dark central shadow of Earth – the umbra – a partial or total lunar eclipse takes place. Then, if the moon only passes through the outer part of the shadow – the penumbra – a subtle penumbral eclipse occurs. Diagram via Fred Espenak/ Lunar Eclipses for Beginners.

Earlier in the evening while we waited for the eclipse to start, we had a play with some steel wool. I found out my photography buddy had never done steel wool photography so we popped his cherry and had a play. Despite many challenges with my equipment last night, I did mange to capture a few semi decent shots even without a remote!