On the very early morning of December 21, 2010 (the day of the winter solstice), a total lunar eclipse was predicted for much of the North and South American continents.

A total lunar eclipse is the event of choice for this particular astronomer, since I have never missed one (that could be viewed from within my immediate area) since July 6, 1982. As a total lunar eclipse date nears, I get increasingly nervous. One reason is because I do not want to miss such an awe-inspiring event and the other is that I do not want to break my lucky streak.

This particular eclipse would be very difficult to catch in southern Ontario and the north-eastern United States. Cloud cover had been very persistent since the second week of November. Very few clear nights were enjoyed by the region since then.

I do have an escape route in the form of jumping in my car and traveling to some predicted clear break somewhere west or east. In some rare occasions, I had to travel south into the United States, passport in hand of course. It is always quite humorous when I tell the border guards why I am entering the U.S. I normally have all the proof I need (my equipment) in my back seat.

This time around, the U.S. was out since it would have taken too long to travel to get out of the clouds. West and east seemed problematic too, since the clouds seemed to be everywhere at the time. In this particular case, the moonlight could be seen through the clouds, however the Moon could not be seen.

I was staying with friends in Brockville for the week leading up to the eclipse. I had originally expected to return to Port Dover on December 19th and take my telescope and cameras with me to wherever I had to go to catch the eclipse without interruption. Looking at the weather predictions for the morning of December 21, I found that the western portion of Ontario (including Port Dover) would be completely overcast, while the Brockville area would be partly cloudy, which is much better than overcast. Based on this new information, I decided to stay with my friends until the afternoon of the 21st.

On December 20th, I began pouring over weather reports and maps once again. Brockville was looking increasingly bad as far as cloud cover was concerned. There seemed to be small holes around the north shore of Lake Ontario that looked promising. The areas near Trenton were predicted to be clear on that night.

At 10 p.m. on the 20th, I began looking at the current conditions of Trenton and the surrounding areas. They looked very good (so far). Brockville looked increasingly bad. I decided I had to journey west (without my telescope) to the vicinity of Trenton. At least this is better than driving 5 hours to Pennsylvania to escape the clouds!

I left my friend's house at midnight on the 21st of December and headed for Trenton. The clouds looked quite solid as I passed Kingston, Napanee, then Belleville. I began to get increasingly nervous as the Moon was visible but just barely through the ever-present cloud cover.

When I reached Trenton, my heart sank as the clouds were still very much present. The Moon was visible as the eclipse was just beginning, but I knew that at totality the clouds would severely dampen the splendour of the main event. I made the decision to keep driving west to find out if there was clear sky anywhere. I surmised that the clear skies that once blessed Trenton at 10 p.m. had moved off to the west in the time that it took me to travel there.

Soon after I passed Trenton, I saw clear breaks in the cloud cover. I was elated once again at the thought of actually being able to catch the eclipse and keeping my streak alive. Finally, near Colbourne, I saw my first totally clear sky. The Moon was half eclipsed by the Earth with totality not very far away. I parked near a doughnut shop and began to unpack my equipment, which consisted of a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera and a small tripod. I have to admit I did not miss my telescopes this time around, since I have seen so many of these events through the telescope before and I have hundreds of images of total lunar eclipses already. I decided that this time I would simply gaze at the Moon and appreciate the eclipse as I did when I saw my first one out of a living room window in Ottawa in the summer of 1982.

My camera only had an optical zoom of 4x, but I thought that it should be good enough to capture totality. I did capture a few of the pre-totality phases leading up to the main event for sentimental reasons, as shown in Figures 1 to 4.

Figure 1: When I had reached the clear skies of Colbourne, I decided to catch a few images of the half-eclipsed Moon. This image was taken in Colbourne, Ontario at 02:05 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 4x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 1/125 second.

Figure 2: I took some overexposed images of the half-eclipsed Moon to show that the characteristic copper-red colour shows up a lot sooner than the time of totality. This image was taken in Colbourne, Ontario at 02:07 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 4x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 1 second.

Figure 3: This looks like a typical crescent Moon, but those who know the Moon will immediately notice that Mare Crisium is near the bottom and not near the top, as a normal first crescent Moon would show. This image was taken in Colbourne, Ontario at 02:12 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 4x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 1/250 second.

Figure 4: An overexposed "crescent" Moon nearing totality. Note that the copper-red colour is getting deeper as the Moon continues to enter further into the Earth's shadow. This image was taken in Colbourne, Ontario at 02:25 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 4x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 2 seconds.

In Colbourne, I enjoyed watching the Moon appear thinner and thinner. As its "phase" approached "crescent", I began to see the coppery-red glow that is actually sunrise (and sunset) colours from the sunlight filtering through the Earth's atmosphere. My favourite time of eclipse occurs when the faintest sliver of the white Moon is all that's left before totality. Then: totality! For this eclipse, totality lasted for 72 minutes, which is plenty of time for appreciation and images.

One of my "traditions" is to take a wide field image of the totally eclipsed Moon and the surrounding stars, as shown in Figure 5. If the Moon were not eclipsed, this image would be mainly white with a large bright blob near the center:

Figure 5: Wide field totality. The Moon looks like a small rosy blemish amongst the myriad of stars of Taurus, Gemini and Orion. If the Moon were not totally eclipsed and at full phase, this image would be much brighter and the Moon would appear to be a burnt out white blob. This image was taken in Colbourne, Ontario at 02:44 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 1x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 25 seconds. The dim orange light on the left hand side of the image is thin cloud (lit by streetlights) as it began to take the skies of Colbourne.

While the Moon was totally eclipsed, I though about the significance of such an event on the very day of the Winter Solstice. First, a total lunar eclipse has not occurred on the winter solstice since the mid 17th century. Second, a totally eclipsed Moon on the Winter Solstice means that the Moon occupies the position that the Sun would occupy during the summer solstice (of June 21). Finally, if the Sun is above the horizon for the least amount of time at the Winter Solstice, this means that this is the longest apparition of the Moon, i.e. the longest moonlight.

I used the optical zoom on my digital camera to get a magnified view of totality. I would normally use my telescope to do this, however I did not have it with me and I wanted to do something novel this time around. The best result is shown in Figure 6:

Figure 6: A totally eclipsed Moon. The Moon looks brighter and whiter on one side because that particular side is at the edge of Earth's shadow and therefore a little brighter. The camera tends to overexpose this part in favour of the more deeply eclipsed portion near the center of Earth's shadow. You can clearly see the stars of Gemini and Taurus surrounding the Moon. This image was taken in Colbourne, Ontario at 03:11 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 4x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 10 seconds.

As I was capturing images of totality, I noticed that small puffs of clouds were beginning to drift in from the northeast. About 10 minutes later, I saw that the clouds were thickening and beginning to obscure the totally eclipsed Moon. My original theory about the clouds drifting westward was confirmed. I decided to pack up my camera, etc. and head westward toward Cobourg, just 15 minutes away.

When I arrived in Cobourg, the skies were clear again with the totally eclipsed Moon still coppery red. I took out my digital camera and began taking more images of the spectacle.

After appreciating totality for about 15 minutes, I decided to finally do something I have wanted to do for some time. I have always wondered what totality looks like through a CCD camera. Although I would have only a black and white image, The high sensitivity of a CCD would show many more stars around the eclipsed Moon. Although I did not bring my telescope, I did bring my CCD camera for just such an experiment.

It took about 10 minutes to set up my equipment, but I finally managed to get my first 5 second exposure of a totally eclipsed Moon through a CCD camera. What I saw was shocking. The Moon was overexposed! Although the Moon's light was greatly reduced thanks to the Earth's shadow, the CCD camera still overexposed it. I decided to reduce the exposure time to the lowest it could go: 0.01 seconds. I took the image and although the image was not saturated, the Moon's face was still slightly overexposed such that I could not see its features. Although I was slightly disappointed with the results, I finally got a CCD image of the event. The image is shown in Figure 7:

Figure 7: A CCD image taken at mid-totality. The totally eclipsed Moon is the obvious bright blob. The open cluster Messier 35 is the fuzzy blob up and to the left of the Moon. Two brighter stars of the constellation Gemini are located at upper left. This image was taken in Cobourg, Ontario at 03:29:34 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with an SBIG ST-9XE CCD camera fitted with a Rikenon 50mm camera lens set at f/16. The exposure time was 0.01 seconds.

After the CCD imaging was finished, I decided to go to a third site, still in Cobourg to take some final images of totality. I began to see a faint white patch near the top of the Moon, which indicated that totality was about to end. At this time, the Moon looked like it had a polar ice cap, like Mars. I guess this is the closest we will get to "Mars will be as large as the full Moon".

My final image of totality is shown in Figure 8:

Figure 8: Is this an ice cap on the Moon or is this Mars? Neither. It is the Moon beginning to come out of total eclipse showing a sliver of white on its northern edge. This image was taken in Cobourg, Ontario at 03:59 a.m. EST on December 21, 2010 with a Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera set at 4x optical zoom and an ISO of 100. The exposure time was 4 seconds. This was my final colour image of totality.

This was a memorable eclipse for many reasons; from the nervousness of constantly checking weather reports, to actually traveling to the site, to being relieved that I could even see it, to the wonder that is totality, to getting my first CCD image of the event.

As always, the images did not do the actual visual experience justice. The CCD image was quite fascinating, as I could see every star near the Moon; something I could never do if the Moon were not totally eclipsed.

As a drove back home after the event, I began thinking about all the past eclipses I had seen and the different experiences I had for each: from my first one, to my first images, to nearly missing one several times, to driving to Pennsylvania, to enjoying them at star parties, to enjoying them on my own. This latest eclipse will be yet another one that I will remember fondly.

As I arrived home, I could see the moonlight, but not the Moon, exactly how it looked when I first left Brockville for Trenton.

As I compiled this story, I decided to compile all of my total lunar eclipse experiences into one table, including the date, location, the best image (or sketches) and my unique experiences:

DATE	LOCATION	IMAGE	NOTES
July 6, 1982	Ottawa, Ontario Canada	Naked Eye	This was my first total lunar eclipse. I remember watching it from beginning to end at about 2 a.m. from the living room window.
December 30, 1982	Ottawa, Ontario Canada	Naked Eye	I watched this one until dawn. The Moon set in total lunar eclipse.
February 20, 1989	Sacramento, California USA		This was the first total lunar eclipse that I viewed through a telescope. This was the first lunar eclipse that I sketched. I could not see the totally eclipsed Moon because the dawn sky was too bright. The Moon set several minutes after totality had begun.
August 16, 1989	Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada	Binoculars	While traveling from Ottawa to Halifax, I stopped at a motel and watched the entire eclipse from the parking lot. I mainly watched it through binoculars.
December 9, 1992	Ottawa, Ontario Canada		This was the first time I photographed a total lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, the eclipse was dampened by the recent eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines which coated the atmosphere in light-absorbing volcanic dust.
November 29, 1993	Ottawa, Ontario Canada		This eclipse was not supposed to be visible in southern Ontario due to very heavy cloud cover. I did see the beginning stages of the eclipse until "first crescent". The clouds moved in and I thought that was the end. Imagine my surprise when the clouds parted to reveal a glorious 2 hour window, which allowed me to watch the last half of totality. This was the first good eclipse that I photographed.
April 3, 1996	Ottawa, Ontario Canada		I saw this one from the roof of the Herzberg physics building at Carleton University. This was the time I saw the Moon rise in total eclipse.
September 26, 1996	Kingston, Ontario Canada	Telescope	I attended a star party at Queen's University to view this one. I only had my 3-inch Bausch and Lomb scope with me and did visual observations only. No images were taken.
March 23,1997	Kingston, Ontario Canada		Technically, this was a partial lunar eclipse, however, it was so close to totality that I decided to call it "total". I attended a star party at Queen's University to view this one. I only had my 3-inch Bausch and Lomb scope with me, but managed to get some decent unguided images of "totality". Saturn was only a few degrees to the south of the Moon at this time.
January 20, 2000	Kingston, Ontario Canada		I saw this particular eclipse from within the greenhouse on the roof of Module 3 of the Sawyer Building at the Royal Military College. I had invited workmates and friends to view the eclipse with me on that night. The night was particularly nasty with blowing snow and partially cloudy conditions, but we did manage to see totality.
May 15, 2003	Ottawa, Ontario Canada		I nearly missed this one. As I was viewing this eclipse, thin cirrus clouds were building in and thickening by the minute. I did not know whether I would see totality or not. Fortunately, totality occurred before the Moon was completely obscured, however I found out later that nobody in the western part of the city could see it.
November 8, 2003	Ottawa, Ontario Canada		I viewed this one from a fellow Ottawa RASC member's backyard in Kanata. A group of us were timing the shadow crossings over specific craters.
October 27, 2004	Ottawa, Ontario Canada		I viewed this eclipse as I was listening to the 2004 World Series over the radio. The Boston Red Sox won the series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which might be the only time a World Series has been won during a total lunar eclipse.
March 3, 2007	Hazelton, Pennsylvania USA		This was the first total lunar eclipse that I had to chase because the weather was lousy throughout southern Ontario. Only two locales within driving distance were predicted to be clear: Albany New York and the middle of Pennsylvania. I chose the latter and stopped in Hazelton. After arriving, the skies clouded over and began to snow. I thought that I was done for until the skies cleared up once again to show the coppery disk of the totally eclipsed Moon. I had a 45 minute window in which I snapped as many images as I could before the clouds reappeared. This was the second time I saw the Moon rise in total eclipse.
August 28, 2007	Guelph, Ontario Canada		I was visiting friends in Guelph and planned to observe the eclipse from the grounds of an elementary school. I managed to see the totally eclipsed Moon before it was totally obscured by the dawn light. For the first time I could see a coppery-red eclipsed Moon surrounded by a pale blue dawn sky.
February 20, 2008	Almonte, Ontario Canada		I remember this one well. One word: -20oC (without wind chill). Brrrr. Although the skies were gloriously clear, the temperature was extremely cold. I managed to observe the Moon until totality, took a few images, then called it a night.
December 21, 2010	Colbourne / Cobourg, Ontario Canada		This was the first total lunar eclipse that I had observed from two different towns. I had arrived in Colbourne, observed the eclipse until totality, then had to move on to Cobourg when the clouds moved in over my first site.
April 15, 2014	Somewhere in North America	Coming in 2014	This will be the next total lunar eclipse that will be visible from North America. It will be another early morning eclipse. Wish me luck!