May 15, 2022 Lunar Eclipse

This is a time-lapse of the May 15, 2022, lunar eclipse viewed from the Sam Houston State University observatory near Riverside, Texas.

Clouds and fog were rolling in from the start and became increasingly thicker throughout the event. Despite this, however, the Moon and some stars were still visible.

The video is composed of 946 individual frames shot with my Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera attached to the Astro-Tech AT72EDII telescope. The alignment of the telescope mount was a little off, which is why the Moon moves slowly across the field of view. I adjusted the exposure at different points in an attempt to bring out details on the lunar surface. Stars are visible in the background after totality. Note that the stars appear to move in a different direction in relation to the Moon–the Moon moves at a different rate and a slightly different angle than the rotation of Earth.

A few steady and blinking red dots appear in different parts of the video. These are “hot pixels,” which are malfunctioning portions of the camera’s imaging chip.

The video ends a few minutes after the end of totality with the relatively bright reflection of the sunlight overwhelming the view.