Lunar Eclipse

January 2000

Viewed from Raleigh NC

Movies of the Eclipse

Movement across the sky

Moon as reference

Shadow as reference

 

Measuring Earth's Shadow

Using geometry for shadow measurement on the moon

 

More about Lunar Eclipses

 

 

Science Education students were invited to participate in a lunar eclipse party in January of 2000. The party began at 9pm and the eclipse started soon afterward. The skies were clear, but it was one of the coldest nights of the month. Hot Chocolate was flowing at the observation site.

Students practiced shooting the moon with digital still cameras, and with digital video cameras. The students soon realized making images of the eclipse was not as simple as point and shoot. As the eclipse progressed, cameras needed to be panned across the sky. As the moon moved through the shadow of the earth the cameras needed to be adjusted to account for the changing light intensity from the moon.

The images were used to investigate the motion of the moon, and the size of the earth's shadow at the moon's distance from the earth.

Select the activities to the right to investigate the lunar eclipse.