Total Eclipse of the Moon 2025 (Blood Moon)

Introduction

On September 7, 2025, a total eclipse of the moon was once again visible in Germany - at least where the weather permitted. We observed and photographed the lunar eclipse from the Heiligenstein hill near Mühlhausen/Kraichgau (Sony RX10 M4 on a Sirui tripod).

Data (Germany)

5:28 p.m.: The moon enters the Earth's penumbra
6:27 p.m.: The moon enters the Earth's umbra (beginning of the partial phase)
7:31 p.m.: Beginning of totality
7:52 p.m.: Rising of the moon (Heidelberg)
8:13 p.m.: Maximum eclipse (Mitte der Finsternis)
8:53 p.m.: End of totality
9:56 p.m.: The moon has left the earth's umbra (end of the partial phase)

The next total ecliopse of the moon will take place at December 31, 2028.

Our Observation...

Wir haben uns tatsächlich aufraffen können, zum Heiligenstein zu fahren, um die totale Mondfinsternis zu beobachten. Mehr per Zufall haben wir einen anderen Beobachtungsplatz gefunden als 2018, aber den kannten auch andere Leute, so dass wir keineswegs allein waren... Ein Mini-Picknick hatten wir auch mit, denn das Himmelsereignis fiel in unsere "Abendbrotzeit". Das Fernglas hatten wir leider vergessen... Zum Fotografieren hatte ich meine Sony RX10 M4 mit und ein Fotostativ mitgenommen, denn für mein elektronische Teleskop war es anfangs zu hell. Da ich meinen Handauslöser verlegt habe, verwendete ich den Selbstauslöser (2s).

We actually managed to drive to the Heiligenstein hill to watch the total lunar eclipse. More by chance than anything else, we found a different observation locarion than in 2018, but other people knew about it as well, so we were by no means alone... We also brought a mini picnic with us, as the celestial event coincided with our "supper time." Unfortunately, we forgot our binoculars... I took my Sony RX10 M4 camera and a tripod with me to take photos, as it was too bright for my electronic telescope in the beginning. Since I misplaced my remote shutter release, I used the camera's self-timer (2s).

Photo: Waiting for the moon with a picnic. The camera is not on the tripod because it was needed for this photo...

Towards the moonrise (east), you can see a few people (later there were many more...), and you can also see clouds rising in the east, climbing higher and higher:

So shortly before 8 p.m., when the moon was supposed to rise (already in totality), there was still no sign of the moon. But at some point in time, I was able to make out a very faint reddish glow in the clouds and share this news with the others. At least we could see a little something! And the clouds cleared up a bit over time, and the moon became brighter...

At first, there was absolutely nothing of the moon to be seen in my photos, because I had set the exposure to manual and probably much too low. At some point in time, I had the idea to try aperture priority mode, and suddenly the reddish moon was visible! Here is an overview shot, but it is not sharp because the camera has difficulties with the sky and in the dark:

Then followed a phase in which I struggled with the camera ;) When I was finally able to take the first proper photos, the moon was quite bright in the lower left corner. Shortly afterwards (just before 9 p.m.), the totality phase ended, and it became really bright in the lower left corner. We drove home around 9:20 p.m. and saw this in our street around 9:30 p.m. (see "Photos" for the moon):

I took a few more pictures from the balcony until 10 p.m., then that was it. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to a piccolo to celebrate our "success." Compared to the lunar eclipses of 2018 and 2019, this one was rather "meager," especially in terms of photos, but it was still beautiful. And we were delighted that the moon appeared after all, despite the clouds! So we narrowly avoided a "failure" ;)

Photos

This time, I took a little more than 120 photos, of which I would like to show only a small selection here, of course. I first tried manual exposure, which did not work, and then switched to aperture priority mode. Since I misplaced my remote shutter release, I used the camera's self-timer (2 seconds) to take the photos. Focusing was done with autofocus.

When I was finally able to take the first proper photos, the moon was quite bright in the lower left corner. But I think that was all the time during totality, because that corner was always brighter an photos that I saw. The photos do not look particularly sharp, perhaps due to veil clouds (or a wrong focus and high ISO...).


Photos taken at the end of the totality phase (at about 8:50 p.m.); 1/3s and 1/4s, f/4, ISO 6400

Shortly thereafter (just before 9 a.m.), the totality phase ended, and it became really bright in the lower left corner:


Photos taken at the beginning of the second partial phase (8:52, 857 p.m.); 1/10s and 1/20s, f/4, ISO 6400

Soon, there was hardly any red to be seen because the part of the moon illuminated by the sun outshone everything else (9:13 p.m.):

We then drove home and saw this state of eclipse from our street at around 9:30 p.m. (clouds more or less disappeared):

A photo taken from our balcony a little later and a final one from 10 p.m., where you can hardly see anything "nibbled" anymore, but a little bit of darkening:


Photos taken at the end of the seconds partial phase ( 9:49, 10:00 p.m.)

Halo around the Moon

During the totality phase and also in the images in which the moon was again partially illuminated by the sun, the structures on the moon appeared blurred. Only when the larger part of the moon was illuminated by the sun and the moon was higher up and presumably above the clouds, did the structures become sharper.

I have since seen many other photos of the lunar eclipse in which the lunar structures are also blurred (this was also the case in some of my own photos from 2018/19). However, there were also photos of the moon in which the structures were quite sharp. It is generally assumed that the blurring was caused by clouds covering the moon. Later, the moon was higher and was no longer covered by clouds. That is why the later photos are sharper. This explanation may or may not be correct ;)

Below are photos of the second partial phase, in which the moon has a halo created by veil clouds. Depending on the type of exposure and the position of the clouds, the halo appears stronger or weaker.


Halo shortly after the end of totality (8:59 p.m.), moon structures blurred		Halo a little later (9:05 p.m.), red weaker because the bright area begins to outshine the moon

Halo somewhat later (9:13 p.m.), red weaker because the bright area begins to outshine the moon		Halo during last photo from the Heiligenstein hill (9:18 p.m.), red practically disappeared because the bright area outshines the moon

Sharpness/Blur

I searched the internet for answers to my blurry blood moon photos. It was not easy to find a reasonable answer, but the problem seems to be motion blur caused by the movement of the moon. Of course, the longer the focal length, the greater the blur.

As a recommendation for the longest exposure time, I found 1/60s or, on a Swiss Website, 1/30s to 1/60s for a 200 mm focal length. The focal length is probably the "crop focal length," which in my case is 600 mm. Other sources recommend 1/180s or 1/250s without specifying the focal length, but presumably with a focal length of 200-300mm "in mind."

I checked the exposure times for my 2025 blood moon photos, and until the initial phase of the partial eclipse, I used significantly longer exposure times. But even in the partial phase, where the times are shorter, nothing really sharp comes out. If I take the 1/60s limit and 200 mm focal length, it should be sharp at 600 mm focal length with 1/180s. When shooting at 1/125s, I do not see any effect, but at 1/250s, it actually seems to get sharper. In general, my experience is that at this focal length, or even with a camera at a telescope, you need to use at least 1/250s for sharp photos (although 1/1000s is better, but that does not always help either...).

So it was probably less the clouds than the motion blur that led to blurry photos — especially, since I have produced blurry lunar eclipse photos in the past.

But now the Swiss Website writes that everything is different during lunar eclipses. The rule for the exposure time in seconds is: 500 / (crop) focal length! With a crop focal length of 600 mm on my Sony, that works out to almost 1 second.

And what is the point of that? The example photo on the Website shows you! The moon is blurry, of course! So sharpness is obviously not that important when it comes to photos of lunar eclipses ;)

Under "normal" conditions, we would have: 1/60s = X / 200mm > X = 20/6, i.e. approx. 3 instead of 500
For 600 mm, this would result in: T = (20/6) / 600 = 0.00556s = 1/180s, which I already mentioned above... So if I want the blood moon to be just as sharp as normal moon photos, I would have to expose for at least 1/250s. The problem with this, however, is that the blood moon is not bright enough for such short exposure times (ISO and maximum aperture set limits!).

Collage

I created a collage from selected photos shown above:

Total Eclipse of the Moon, September 7, 2025