Total Lunar Eclipse on  Winter Solstice, 2010

Total lunar eclipses are extremely rare. The last time Winter Solstice coincided with a total lunar eclipse on the same calendar day was long before any of our lifetimes.  The year was 1638. There was a total lunar eclipse  on Winter Solstice in 1554.  The rare event occurred this year on Winter solstice. Few alive today are likely to see a recurrence inasmuch as the next time the winter solstice and a total lunar eclipse will occur on the same calendar day will be Dec. 21, 2094.

The total eclipse began about 3:40 a.m. CST and lasted 72 minutes, until 4:52 a.m. The moon then continued moving through the Earth's shadow, emerging completely sometime after 4 a.m.

As an amateur,  my attempt to digitally capture the event on camera was very much a trial and error experience. I took 324 photos, most of which were very poor quality. Those that did turn out visually acceptable were less than the best. I confess that the trial and error experience taught me a lot about operating my camera. I hope to do a better job next time I attempt to capture a total lunar eclipse on film. It's a given that I'll never see another lunar eclipse that occurs on the shortest day of the year.

I tried my hand photographing the last total lunar eclipse, which occurred in August of 2007. Here's a link to several photographs I took on that occasion: Lunar eclipse in Oklahoma August 27, 2007. 

These photographs were taken at the Glass Mountains located 10 miles north of Fairview and 35 miles west of Enid. the camera I used was a Canon SX10IS. Inasmuch as I was constantly adjusting the settings on the camera (trial & error method), I have no idea what the settings were on these photographs. It was an enjoyable experience. Enjoy...