January 2018 brought us a special celestial treat, the Blue Supermoon, or Super Blood Red Moon eclipse.  The blue part just states that it is the second full moon in a single month.  The Supermoon part is when the moon is closest to the earth in its orbit, this time about 14% bigger and 30% brighter!  Blood Red is the total eclipse part.  This was a rare event and worth getting up for.

I set the alarm for about 4am but realized that the article I read was in Pacific Time Zone, so I was an hour early.  This was good, however, as it was a warm night and it gave me some time to experiment with my camera’s settings without the rush of being in the eclipse.  The morning was hazy but the moon was shining through.  There were clouds that passed over that covered the moon; so not perfect but not a total bummer either!

Once the moon went into totality, it got very dim.  At the same time it was low enough on the horizon that it went behind the lenticular clouds that often form in the winter over the mountains.  At this point it was game over; but still an awesome show!