Super Cold Super Eclipse Super Moon

Okay, I admit it. I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather. I had planned to drive outside the city limits to use other foreground elements for the upcoming total lunar eclipse on January 20-21, 2019. But with temperatures at zero degrees F and below on the day, I had no intention to venture out in those conditions. Instead, my more comfortable plan was to simply go out on our back deck and shoot the spectacle in thirty minute increments. In between, my camera and I would take refuge back in the warm indoors. Earlier weather forecasts weren't initially promising for the eclipse itself, but when the time came skies were either clear, or with high thin cirrus clouds which did not obscure the moon's disk.

For imaging, I shot at 300mm focal length and secured the manual focus with a strip of gaffer's tape, and of course used a tripod. Imaging information for each capture of the composite is shown below:

January 20-21, 2019 total lunar eclipse composite. Captured from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 300mm focal length. Left-to-right, from bottom: 7:35 pm. 0 degrees F. 1/320 second exposure at f/20, ISO 400; 9:15 pm. 1 degrees F. 1/320 second exposure at f/11, ISO 400; 9:44 pm. 0 degrees F. 1/320 second exposure at f/11, ISO 400; 10:13 pm. 0 degrees F. 1/320 second exposure at f/7.1, ISO 400; 10;41 pm. 0 degrees F. 1/25 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 2000, 11:12 pm. 0 degrees F. 1/5 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 2000; 11:42 pm. 0 degrees F. 1/5 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 2000; 12:12am. -4 degrees F. 1/640 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 2000; 12:43am. -2 degrees F. 1/320 second exposure at f/11, ISO 400; 1:11 am. -4 degrees F. 1/320 second exposure at f/16, ISO 400.

Maximum total eclipse occurred at 11:12 pm CST. Light reflected from the lunar surface is refracted by the Earth's atmosphere, giving it its distinctive "blood" red appearance.

Immediately following my last moon capture for the composite image, I noticed a subtle halo around the moon--then coming out of its eclipse phase. The halo is created by ice crystals at high altitude. Three fifth magnitude stars in the constellation Cancer can be clearly seen below and right of the moon in this image looking south at 1:16 am CST, Monday, January 21, 2019.

As the full moon was coming out of its eclipse phase it returned to its full bright glory. Note the stark shadows beneath the trees in this image looking south from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 1:21 pm. Air temperature at this time was -4 degrees F. Brrrrrrr!!! (I'll just stay inside...)
Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.