Watch This Space

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
Moderator
Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6,579
Credit: 306,922,947
RAC: 160,559

Cool. There will be a lunar

Cool. There will be a lunar eclipse ( late afternoon DownUnda ) in two days. And on the 29th of this month an annular solar eclipse of which that we will also get a taste. As I'm roughly 100 miles off the centreline, I might get a few minutes of something. Again, weather permitting, I'll see what I can snap.

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
Moderator
Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6,579
Credit: 306,922,947
RAC: 160,559

Here is the spec sheet on the

Here is the spec sheet on the solar eclipse. This roughly tells me that I might get the briefest ( perhaps 10 to 20 seconds ) of not-quite-annular ( ie. eccentric ) eclipse at best ~ 5.05pm local time, with around a half hour of greater than 80% of maximum. Whatever. I luv it. A good show .... :-)

Annular means that the Moon is a bit far away to totally occult the view of the Sun, so there is a rim of Sun around the Moon's outline at least. Compare with 2012 when the Moon was closer in and thus totally eclipsed. Sharp punters will note this is a mere 14 days - one half of a Moonth - after the lunar eclipse on the 15th. Recall my earlier description of the non-coplanar orbital planes of the Sun/Earth vs the Moon/Earth. Also given that I am 54 today I view this sequence of events as a cosmic celebration of that fateful day for the Universe back in 1960 ... :-) :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Holmis
Joined: 4 Jan 05
Posts: 1,118
Credit: 1,055,935,564
RAC: 0

Happy birthday and fingers

Happy birthday and fingers crossed that there will be clear skies! =)

MAGIC Quantum Mechanic
MAGIC Quantum M...
Joined: 18 Jan 05
Posts: 1,857
Credit: 1,349,335,965
RAC: 1,531,009

Same here in the Great NW

Same here in the Great NW (where it rains most of the time) but sunday was nice and sunny and I am watching the Moon right now just to get ready for tomorrow (almost 3am now)

Good luck and good pictures.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
Moderator
Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6,579
Credit: 306,922,947
RAC: 160,559

Thanks gents, may we all have

Thanks gents, may we all have a good viewing today! Where I am the Moon will rise in full eclipse : so I'll put on Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising for the occasion ... :-)

Weather is clear. Rise time 5.49pm, full moon time just 6 minutes earlier. I have just the shot in mind from the roof of my house toward a saddle between two mountains.

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

MAGIC Quantum Mechanic
MAGIC Quantum M...
Joined: 18 Jan 05
Posts: 1,857
Credit: 1,349,335,965
RAC: 1,531,009

Well I hope you had better

Well I hope you had better luck than me Mike.

I was just reminded that here where I live we have around 300 total eclipses every year......aka nothing but clouds .....so it is dark outside right now

I do have a Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs half-speed remastered on virgin vinyl copy of Cosmos Factory in perfect condition since I only played it once back in 1980 when I bought it for my collection.

And my turntable died on me back in the 1980's and now even my expensive vacuum tube output CD player stopped working so I am back to just FM (and my several satellite dishes)

So I am just watching tv.......hope to see some pictures now I guess.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
Moderator
Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6,579
Credit: 306,922,947
RAC: 160,559

Well, all in all, it could

Well, all in all, it could have been worse. The auto features of my camera are quite hopeless for astronomy ( it really doesn't know what to do with infinity, just like in Port Douglas ), so I had to go manual and experiment. The extinction for red was pretty savage low down on the horizon, with an evening smoke haze too. But here's a quick pick of the evening :

I'll post others later .... :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
Moderator
Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6,579
Credit: 306,922,947
RAC: 160,559

Nice ambience ....

Nice ambience .... :-)

and it's just starting to come out of umbra on the right side ( southern ) limb.

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

MAGIC Quantum Mechanic
MAGIC Quantum M...
Joined: 18 Jan 05
Posts: 1,857
Credit: 1,349,335,965
RAC: 1,531,009

GREAT pictures as always Mike

GREAT pictures as always Mike

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
Moderator
Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6,579
Credit: 306,922,947
RAC: 160,559

Thanks MAGIC. :-) However

Thanks MAGIC. :-)

However the pictures don't really do justice to the majesty of the event as witnessed, and the feeling it gives. To me at least. I watch and 'see' a great shadow ( about 3 moons in diameter in the sky ) with the Earth is rotating under my feet ( to the East ), the Sun is behind me out of sight and the Moon gradually slides through the shadow. But my mind's 'view' flicks back and forth b/w a show on a far/flat canvas ( egocentric ), to one where I forget my immediate surrounds, feel disembodied and 'part of' the cosmos ( and no mind altering substances on board, except maybe the residue of the morning's coffee ). I guess the crystal clear sky, mountainous landscape, sharp evening air and the twilight sky color helped.

I think there's a bit of a poet in us all, even one as literal as myself. What a privilege to see that. No wonder that so much myth has emerged from the sky.

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.