Observing reports and photos of this Total Lunar Eclipse by our members from locations on Vancouver Island and Nova Scotia. Everyone in North and South America were able to see the Full Moon turn a shade of red for over an hour of totality— where there were clear skies, of course. Being the tail end of winter here on Vancouver Island, our weather was not ideal. In fact, several members reported hail, rain and thick cloud while the eclipse was happening!
Michael Webb – Christmas Hill, Saanich
I started the day by photographing the moon setting behind the cloud in the west thinking that would be the last I saw of it with clouds forecast. Luckily we were treated to at approximately half of totality before the clouds came in.
John McDonald – Royal Oak, Saanich
Montage of the 2025-03-13/14 Lunar Eclipse. It was a night with a mix of partially clear and cloudy skies. The sky went dark just as totality came but fortunately cleared after about 20 Minutes.
- Canon Ra camera on Orion 80mm telescope.
- Exposure for the fully eclipsed moon was 0.5s at ISO 1600. The other phases had ISO from 800 to 1600 and exposure times from 1/6 to 2 sec.
Joe Carr – Finlayson & Quadra, Victoria
I was working against cloud to photograph this eclipse, so my photos lack sharpness and detail. During totality I had to push the ISO on my camera to 51,200, so the last two images are noisy and lack colour depth. At least I was out there and observed the first half of this apparition before I had to flee the rain and hail!
One interesting note about my late partial eclipse photo – it shows a blue band of light. As we know, a lunar eclipse appears red because the atmosphere refracts light around the Earth up to the Moon, scattering all but the red spectrum. There is also a visible blue band, revealing how some of the light passes through the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere where red is absorbed and makes the passing light ray bluer.
- Canon R5 Mirrorless camera
- Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L zoom lens + 2x RF Extender operating at 1,000mm, f/14
- Exposures: 1/2000 to 1/100 sec, ISO 2500 to 51200
- Manfrotto 055 tripod – no tracking
Joe’s observing report
David Lee – Observatory Hill, Saanich
We were dodging clouds as we approached totality but we did get some clear moments on the Hill.
Megan Meraz – Saxe Point, Esquimalt
This is a composite of two photos taken with my DSLR at 55mm focal length (stars and clouds) and 250mm (moon) on a tracker. The clouds and star photo is 25 seconds, and the moon is a 6 second exposure, both at ISO100.
Nathan Hellner-Mestelman – Victoria
Eclipse cookies from last night: Randy, you’ll have to judge the maria accuracy.
Randy Enkin – Fairfield, Victoria
My astrobuddy Kevin Bertles and I set up to observe the times when Earth’s shadow crossed craters on the moon. The clouds disappeared and we had made good measurements on 7 craters! Then the clouds moved in and it started to rain.
I’ve been waiting years to attempt these observations.
Ron Fisher – Qualicum
In Qualicum Beach we had clear sky until midnight so I missed all the end of the eclipse. Lots of fun when my camera battery died and I had to switch to a dummy battery fed from an extension cord. Other than that it was a wonderful experience for my wife and I.
Captured with a modified Canon 70D DSLR and 400mm telephoto f5.6,
- Bottom image: 10:38pm 1/2000 sec
- Middle: 11:30pm 1/6 sec
- Right image: 11:43pm ½ sec
Charles Banville – Halifax
The eclipsed moon above Downtown Halifax.
Date: March 14, 2025
Location: Alderney Landing, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Optics: Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Exposure: 0.8 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800
Tony Dell – Campbell River
We had intermittent cloud but I managed to get a couple of half decent shots with my Nikon. I’ve included them – they’re my first attempt at astrophotography…
Bill Weir – Ucluelet
I’m glad it worked out for those in the city. I had hope because out this way it was clear for most of all the time I looked up until deepest totality at midnight. I did my observing using a sweet little old f/8 80mm refractor that I’ve been refurbishing. The Meade research grade 20mm wide field eyepiece gave a wonderful 2° TFOV and for an achro almost totally colour free except for the reddening of the eclipse. Very pretty view. What I will say though is that it was a fairly pale red due to the Moon being just barely inside the umbra. Maybe it’s just me being a bit picky but I think some of the images have been influenced by wanting it to be redder. This shot was taken at the exact time of deepest totality.
Dave Payne – Maui, Hawai’i
The eclipse was spectacular from Maui. Saw the red, white, and blue.
