The Moon Approaching Eclipse

With the total lunar eclipse two nights away, I photographed the moon to check my exposures. This is one of the shots taken through a 25mm eyepiece with the exposure setting set at -1.5 e.v. It seems to work so I'll try this setting on Saturday night. The weather forecast seems o.k.

I also took the opportunity to observe Saturn which later tonight will pass very close to the Moon. Further North from my position there will actually be an occultation of Saturn by the Moon. The viewing was quite good in spite of the proximity of the Moon. The rings were glorious. There is actually the shadow of the planet visible on the rings to the East. Just under one month ago, at opposition, this was not visible. The moons I could see were all to the East; Tethys and Dione close to the North-East, Rhea further out to the East and Titan to the South-East.

Earlier I took advantage of the cloudless night to observe Canopus which culminated at 19:49 local time at an altitude of only +01°43'