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Hurray for awesomely clear skies, because it allowed me to catch the total lunar eclipse from start to finish.

Managed to catch the first half of the eclipse at Marina Barrage with a bunch of close friends … along with loads of noisy children, other astronomy geeks and surrounded by kites attached with flashing lights which (thankfully) didn’t get in the way of the eclipse viewing.

The second half was caught from home.

Click to view original size.

This is possibly the first time lady luck’s on my side, considering my last blotched attempt at eclipse watching no thanks to an overcast sky (which resulted in loads of grainy photos). Today was completely different – witnessing a total lunar eclipse under a clear night sky was an experience on a totally new level.

I’ve collated all the images captured into a composite as you can see above. Click on it to view the composite in its full glory.

Oh yeah, you can find my photo submission on my favourite astronomy site, Spaceweather too.

Enjoy!

The weather on eclipse day was dark and gloomy. It was overcast, with the clouds threatening to burst with rain any moment.

Despite escaping the rain belt in Shanghai which was threatening to ruin eclipse viewing, it still dealt us a glancing blow in Yangshan. (The latter supposedly to be the best observation area in China.) As a result of the clouds, I only managed to witness less than 15% of the eclipse in progress.

The clouds broke every now and then to provide me with glimpses (and photo opportunities) of the eclipse.

About 40% obscured at 9.09 A.M.

I am however, slightly miffed that I didn’t get to see the eclipse during totality. An extremely thick bunch of clouds decided to move in at the last minute (and it wasn’t as if there weren’t enough clouds to begin with) and thus the majestic sun corona was completely obscured from view despite the sheer length of totality.

The atmosphere was terrific, though!

I was amongst a whole flock of avid eclipse chasers with really bizarre, advanced equipment which made me really envious.

However, the weather was so bad that it was really beginning to look as if I’ve flown all the way here for nothing. It made me grouch for a while. Then, a gap suddenly appeared in the clouds and everyone started screaming with joy. (That was when I captured the above photo.)

To put it in my dad’s words – “This is one eclipse that will really make you shit in your pants.”

The rest of the eclipse viewing was erratic. I was staring at a patch of grey clouds for most of the duration, occasionally sitting up, alert when I spot a potential patch of cloud-free sky heading in my direction. The fact that there were so many people around with the same goal, and looking out for the same thing felt … good. It was as if we were all united against one enemy – the clouds.

I spent most of the time just sitting around and soaking up the atmosphere.

The period of totality was especially amazing despite not being able to see the sun. It suddenly became extremely dark (and rather eerie) really quickly, and I was surrounded with cheers and shrieks of delight.

The period of darkness lasted for slightly more than five minutes before light soon flooded the area again. Bloody awesome feeling, really.

I am really happy we made the decision to drive down to Yangshan for the eclipse. Based on what I’ve heard (and seen in the news), it was raining heavily in Shanghai throughout the eclipse duration and hardly anyone managed to even catch a glimpse of it.

More photos within. ;)