This evening, June 4, 2012, was a partial lunar eclipse. This happens whenever the Earth is in between the Sun and the Moon, and they become aligned in a way that the shadow of the Earth will cover part of the moon.
The event happened during moonrise so I had to find a clear view of the East. The best view I could get from my immediate vicinity was from the overpass at Q-mart in Cubao, Quezon City. The sky was also very cloudy due to a recent storm that passed by. I was reluctant to observe but I decided to go with it anyway. I grabbed my Nikon D3100 and a 55-200mm Nikkor lens and waited for the moon to reveal itself.
The moon began peeking through the cloud cover and I started grabbing some images. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any good shots and the clouds obscured my view of the maximum eclipse (at 38% cover of umbral shadow). Also, I had to leave the site since there were suspicious individuals eyeing my camera (almost lost my wallet to a pick-pocket the previous night; never observe alone in an unsecure location).
Dismayed by my lack of usable images I went home to follow the live TwitCast from the astrocamp observatory. I went out every now and then hoping to catch a glimpse of the eclipsed moon. Fortunately, the skies cleared a bit and I rushed to take out my 6" Newtonian reflector and set it up on the street. I was finally able to get some decent images. Too bad I wasn't able to do an eclipse progression. Maybe next time! :)
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