Lunar Eclipse
15 May 2022

For those of us on the west coast of the U.S. this lunar eclipse was already in progress when the Moon rose. About another half hour passed before the Moon cleared the local terrain at my observatory site (Orange County Astronomers' Anza site).

As luck would have it, the first thing that happened after the Moon cleared the local hills was that my video was photobombed!

Totality started before the sky was completely dark. Click on the image to enlarge.

Mid-totality: One of the reasons I like to travel to a dark site even though lunar eclipses are visible from the city is that the stars become visible when the Moon is eclipsed. Click on the image to enlarge.

Mid-eclipse timelapse video shows numerous stars being occulted by the Moon. The relatively bright star highlighted with an arrow is about magnitude 6, which is right at the limit of visibility for the unaided human eye.

End of totality. Click on the image to enlarge.

This composite image (rotated with respect to previous shots) which includes shots about 10 minutes prior (right image) and 10 minutes after totality shows the boundary of the Earth's shadow. Click on the image to enlarge.

Need help with a "UFO"

During the lunar eclipse, I was recording real-time video of the Moon at about 1000mm focal length. During review, I noticed a small flash of light that lasted two frames (see looping video below). This is potentially the flash from a meteor impact on the Moon. Currently I'm trying to track down other videos which might have caught this, or can show that it's an electronic glitch, satellite glint, or other local effect.

Help me identify this UFO (Unconfirmed Flashing Object). Email me if you have any info either way. Thanks!

Click on the image to enlarge.