Lunar eclipse on September 27, 2015

I photographed the lunar eclipse that occurred on September 27, 2015.

We went to a location on the Gila River Indian Reservation where the moon would come up over the San Tan Mountains with a cotton field in the foreground. We saw Father Charlie at Mass and he mentioned he was going to this spot, so we decided to join him. There were 5 of us including Mary Ann and I. Mary Ann and I left at about 8:30, and I took the rest of the pictures in the backyard. Father Charlie said that after we left the reservation police came by and said they were trespassing on private property and asked them to leave.

The moon rise, sunset, and start of the eclipse all started at about the same time – approximately 6:15 PM. By the time the moon came over the mountains the eclipse was well underway. The time from when the eclipse started to the full eclipse was pretty quick. During the full eclipse the moon appeared red because it was relatively low on the horizon so the earth’s atmosphere caused the red color. This is why it’s sometimes called a ‘blood moon’.

I have two picture where I created a composite of the event using GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which is a free Photoshop-like program. There are two photos of the moon coming over the mountains, and the rest showing the progress of the eclipse. I’m showing the photos with the shadow leaving the moon. I like them better because I lowered the ISO setting to 400, so they are less ‘grainy’.

Here are the pictures: