The upcoming full lunar eclipse should be well observed from Bonaire.
Commencing this Sunday evening, and occurring through the wee hours of Monday morning, those on Bonaire will have a wonderful opportunity to watch the full lunar eclipse, which, at totality, should present the Blood Moon.
Hopefully, our current cloudy skies will clear by Sunday evening, in the hope that we have excellent viewing conditions for this stellar celestial event. The entire eclipse will take 5 hours and 19 minutes and will show a 1.413 magnitude. The absolute best time for viewing it from Bonaire will be at 12:11 AM on Monday morning when the Blood Moon will be present during totality.
Schedule of the May 15-16, 2022, lunar eclipse.
| Time | Event | Direction | Altitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:32 PM Sunday, May 15 | Penumbral Eclipse begins (The Earth's penumbra touches the Moon's face.) | 125 degrees | 37.0 degrees |
| 10:27 PM Sunday, May 15 | Partial Eclipse begins (The moon is getting red.) | 136 degrees | 46.9 degrees |
| 11:29 PM Sunday, May 15 | Total Eclipse begins (There will be a completely red moon.) | 155 degrees | 55.0 degrees |
| 12:11 AM Monday, May 16 | Maximum Eclipse--Totality (The moon is closest to the enter of the shadow.) | 172 degrees | 57.7 degrees |
| 12:53 AM Monday, May 16 | Total Eclipse ends | 190 degrees | 57.3 degrees |
| 1:55 AM Monday, May 16 | Partial Eclipse ends | 212 degrees | 51.7 degrees |
| 2:50 AM Monday, May 16 | Penumbral Eclipse ends | 226 degrees | 43.1 degrees |
Photographic tips for getting great images of the Blood Moon.
- Find your location and get set up. You’ll need a good tripod and your camera’s most extended zoom capability. Find a location that allows you full access to the skies above you–no trees or other barriers in the way. During the best times of the eclipse, the moon should be mostly overhead, so be sure there are no visual obstructions. Ambient light around you usually is not a problem, because you’ll be zooming in as far as possible to fill your image frame with the moon.
- Have plenty of batteries charged and ready to change. You’ll be shooting for a while!
- Know where you can change your camera settings to manual focus. This is important. While you can shoot with autofocus mode for much of the eclipse, once totality hits and the Blood Moon begins, you will need to focus manually, as there is not enough light with which to focus in autofocus mode.
- Be patient. Try to shoot at the important times noted above, especially if you would like to ultimately make a composite photo, such as the one illustrated here from the January 2019 Blood Moon Eclipse. However, don’t limit yourself to only those times; if you get views in between without clouds, take the opportunity and shoot!
- Sit back and enjoy the show!
Composite image of the progression of the Total Lunar Eclipse, culminating in a Blood Moon, on January 20 and 21, 2019
