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Lunar showstopper: Super blue blood moon awes and wows

35 Comments
By MARCIA DUNN

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Tokyo-EngrFeb. 1 11:21 am JST

@Nan - People do make a big deal of it...I agree...but I think humanity has been making a big deal of these types of events for thousands of years. Now we have the internet which I guess makes everything a big deal....

Exactly my point, this might have been a big deal for caveman or uncivilized societies in the past. Now it is just glaring evidence of how little man has done to explore further beyond in the cosmos, such as a Mars landing! That would impress me!

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@taj

Thanks mate, I just signed up with them.

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It was cool, looked straight out of something from a horror movie like Dracula.

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@zichi - good post, will give it a try

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@zichi - The iPhone needs to be used with a telescope for good moon shots

Yep! I've got some amazing photos of the moon in different phases with my iPhone and telescope. I usually take them at the beach where the ambient light is much less. I couldn't get a decent shot last night though because of the limited amount of light coming from the eclipsed moon and being in the city. However, I got some very good images from my phone with the 30x telephoto lens. They are actually a bit clearer than the photo you linked, but they have more noise in them. I might try a bit of Photoshop magic to see if I can clean them up a bit and reduce the noise without making them fuzzy.

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JandworldToday  01:38 pm JST

With the local press only commenting after the event, good to see it did not go unnoticed.

The Japan Times has been posting about it, daily it seems, since at least Jan. 28th.

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With the local press only commenting after the event, good to see it did not go unnoticed.

It got really dark about 10ish pm under the cloud cover, just as the solar eclipse in 2009 July at about 11am was covered up on these waterblessed islands.

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I reckon with a half decent camera, the moon on a clear night is an excellent subject... obviously light pollution is a factor though and it can be annoying.

@zichi - that's a nice shot. I still think a 300mm lens is not enough though (560 is cool)... but I did get a shot with my 300 a couple of years back on a half moon... Used my iPhone to zoom digitally... the definition of the surface craters was incredible. Canon 70d. Would love a 500+ zoom capability but at this point I just can't afford it... my wife says.

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Yeah, taking a picture of the moon with the iPhone was a disaster.... seems it's "Clever" software system got in the way and extrapolated the ever decreasing slice of the moon to become a full moon... so I guess will have to wait another 152 years before I can try out the latest incarnation Apple may have to offer....

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@smithinjapan - I saw the moon the night before last, and last night, and it was beautiful enough without being a blood moon to boot. That said, all three at once is a pretty rare celestial event indeed (well, not like a "blue moon" is actually a celestial event, but an arbitrary date set by humans). I saw it just as the eclipse started, but then it clouded over here. Ah well. Got a cell phone shot but it looks like crap.

I regularly take photos of the moon through my telescope with my iPhone. It's fascinating! The photos are a little 'noisy', but you can't expect too much from a phone camera. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't get a decent photo of the blood moon due to a lack of light from the moon. One of these days I'll get around to buying a decent telescope and camera set up.

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I saw the moon the night before last, and last night, and it was beautiful enough without being a blood moon to boot. That said, all three at once is a pretty rare celestial event indeed (well, not like a "blue moon" is actually a celestial event, but an arbitrary date set by humans). I saw it just as the eclipse started, but then it clouded over here. Ah well. Got a cell phone shot but it looks like crap.

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Except that it has happened before and will happen again

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Trapped in parent-teacher interviews at school during the best time, it was small and not so spectacular by the time I got out. Such a shame.

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Very spectacular and irregular event! I got some great photos with my phone and a 30x telephoto lens I bought on Amazon for ¥2,500 just for the event, which arrived at 6pm last night. "Phew!" I tried getting photos with my telescope, but there just wasn't enough light from the blood moon to capture it with my phone.

I can't believe all these people complaining that they had no notification of the event. It was in nearly every major newspaper over the last few days.

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@Nan - People do make a big deal of it...I agree...but I think humanity has been making a big deal of these types of events for thousands of years. Now we have the internet which I guess makes everything a big deal....

As for me I thought the moon was pretty cool. Was travelling back from SE Asia last night so could actually see it before flying

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Not sure why everybody makes such a big deal about eclipses etc...

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@Haaa sorry about that it auto corrected and I didn't catch it before I hit the submit button

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@ Haha - Thank you! I was so excited I was telling strangers to look up as I walked home from the station, managed to get some good pics too.

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@sensei258 - happy birthday for yesterday.

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@Dukeleto - to post here you must have internet access right? So why do you make JT your only source of news? I knew about this coming days ago through other sites... MSN, IFLScience, StuffNZ to name a few that had mentioned it.

I had actually forgotten about it but when I got home last night my nephew was outside with his telescope and his mother with her camera. I ended up getting a few shots similar to the second to last shown here.

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It was a bit cloudy where I am, but at least there were no TV monitors, large crowds or a running commentary.

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It was a celestial birthday gift for me. A super blue blood moon on my birthday!!! I doubt that will happen to me again.

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We could see the eclipse starting, but photographing with a cell phone was difficult because of the city lights

Exactly! Actually I am in a darker residential neighborhood and my smartphone couldn't get much pictures. I need one of those fancy zoom cameras in the future.

I only heard about it a few hours before from a neighbor kid. Most students probably heard about it through their science teacher.

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why wasn't there more news about this BEFORE it happened? i didn't hear anything about this on TV or the papers. luckily caught a glimpse because i saw some people staring up into the sky last night.

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Would have been great if JT had done a preliminary report on this yesterday or before so I would have known to step outside to look. As JT is my loan source of news in Japan it was great seeing today that I had missed it!

Cheers JT

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Beautiful celestial magic.

Made me think just how insignificant mankind is compared to this awesome spectacle. Stood outside until it was too cold but wow.

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We could see the eclipse starting, but photographing with a cell phone was difficult because of the city lights. The absence of clouds was wonderful, but earnest viewers must have gone to Izu peninsula etc. not merely to avoid the predicted clouds, but also to leave aside the lights!

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Isn't nature wonderful!

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Would have loved to see it, but it was to cloudy. Too bad, the pictures are beautiful !

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Wow, spectacular!

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Sadly missed it down here, cloudy and rainy, thanks for the great shot here!

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