Snapping rare lunar event

Photo: Rodney Saigeon 

An Okanagan amateur photographer got up extra early Wednesday to catch a rare lunar sight.

Rodney Saigeon woke up at 1:45 a.m. at Holiday Park Resort north of Ellison Lake to get his equipment set up in preparation for the super blue blood moon.

The event combines a blue moon, a second full moon in one month, a super moon, when the moon comes close to the Earth, and a lunar eclipse. It's the first time the three have synced up in 35 years.

Saigeon attached his camera to his telescope, which has a six-inch mirror, and tracked the moon's movements.

He says he had to deal with some cloud cover to get the shot he wanted, but the tracking telescope helped him follow the moon when it disappeared behind the clouds.

Every time the moon poked through, he would fire off several frames.

After a bit of work with some editing software to get the moon to stand out more, Saigeon was left with an impressive shot.

“I feel great. If it turns out one good picture, it's worth it,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”