Like my earlier post with interesting cloud formation photos, this post is not – strictly speaking – about environmental history either, but I expect most readers will not quibble much, because these photos are very cool! Taken from veteran photographer Paul Knight’s back-yard, in Levin, Horowhenua, they capture the moon’s eclipse, which was visible in our skies on 21 December. It was, apparently, the first total lunar eclipse visible in New Zealand in three years. A total lunar eclipse only occurs when there is a full moon. The eclipse coincided with summer solstice – the shortest night/longest day in the year.
The eclipse began as the sun set at 8:36pm and ended about 11pm. Photos were taken, at 10.08pm, 10.10pm and 10.41pm respectively. For the photography buffs out there, they were taken with Nikon D200 camera with a 300mm F/2.8 lens and 2x tele-extender attached (the equivalent of a 900mm telephoto lens on a 35mm camera). First photo was taken with a shutter speed of 1/125 second, the second at 1 second and the third at 1/500 second. All photos copyright Paul Knight.
envirohistory NZ 