Astronomy, Photography and Weather

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/29jul_solareclipse.htm

Fingers crossed for clear skies!

Weather looks poor, but we may well get good views through the gaps - there's plenty of time - unlike the 32 second totality I witnessed in Australia where people half a mile down the beach from me were clouded out and I wasn't!

Good fortune - still, you mostly make your own luck!

Assuming the weather isn't hopeless I'll be on the main car park at Portballintrae with a 80mm refractor + white light filter, filtered binoculars, a PST and a few "eclipse viewers" made from offcuts of Baader film.

The Sun's peeking through gaps here in Larne - inland looks to be clearer - which is where I'll be!

Seen the entire eclipse. A very successful watch. My images aren't very good but I did take quite a few video clips of the eclipsed disk with clouds blowing over using a filter over the 300mm camera lens. Just of the phone with John, he seen it to AND caught a funnel cloud!  :)

Full report to follow. Portballintrae car park NBG, at 10:45 drove off in the direction of a likely looking gap and managed to get a single white light image through a small hole (there was still some high level cloud).

A good first half, a clouded out second half - no FTP here at work but I got this up to SW...

http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Paul-Evans-SANY0132_1217589397_fl.jpg

A good morning, a lot of interest from colleagues, many of whom had never seen anything through a 'scope before!

Full report:

Although cloudy, there were signs that it might be breaking, so I went to Portballintrae car park - at 0820 UT the view to the West was as follows:
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Eclipse-0820.jpg)
But to the south east cloud cover was total and it was actually raining lightly.

By 0830 UT it was apparent that the bright patch was moving away
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Eclipse-0830.jpg)
Rain getting heavier, apparently from a sheet of altostratus, this was the view to the north west
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Eclipse-0831.jpg)
with just a bright patch towards the Sun
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Eclipse-0832.jpg)

The rain persisted. By 09:20 UT there were signs of a clearance to the SE
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Eclipse-0920.jpg)
but it never materialised - the rain continued, though it got a bit lighter.

At 09:45 UT I made the decision to abandon Portballintrae and drove inland in the direction of the clearance. Arriving in Derrykeighan there were shadows! There was only a small hole in the thick cloud, and there was still some high cloud, but I stopped & set up the refractor with its objective filter, and managed to quickly snap a single image before the cloud closed in again.
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Eclipse-1002.jpg)
This was taken with 80mm f/6 refractor, Canon 2x tele-extender, Canon 40D, 1/250 sec (at f/12), ISO 400

So ... I just caught the tail end of the eclipse ... glad to hear some of you had better luck!

Great capture Paul, I also got clouded out on the second half but got some shots. Will process when I get home form work.  It was really good to see, used camera with filter at 600mm.  Look forward to seeing more from the rest...  :)

Great report Brian!! shame about the weather...

Hey Brian, looks like North wasn't the place to be, but I do like the shot that you got - just the very end of the eclipse with lots of atmosphere!

This is from Paul Evans. One I got afocally coupled through the ETX70 - this at 1017 BST

(http://i34.tinypic.com/2vrxt8w.jpg)

Guy's, this has been one of those days! First of all, I had lovely weather for most of the eclipse with just
the odd passing cloud. This is only one of many images I got, and was taken close to maximum from Maghaberry.
Some heavy dark clouds spoiled the last contact. Then all hell let loose! I rang Martin and while on the phone
I looked out my front window and saw this amazing Funnel Cloud within minutes of the eclipse ending.
(see elsewhere on this forum). I didn't even have time to draw breath! Needless to say the eclipse then took
second place as we tried to get the images to relevant quarters as quickly as possible. Many thanks to
Martin for his help, I couldn't have done it alone. This morning will live long in my memory! The image was taken
with the Canon 400D attached to the ETX90mm and is a full frame.
(http://i36.tinypic.com/2q1xxe1.jpg)

Here was my attempt today! Really enjoyed seeing the eclipse as it was my first time capturing it and seeing it up close.  All images taken @ 600mm with Olympus e510, 70-300mm lens, x2 converter & solar filter, got a few shots but here are five of them.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2722265917_a4f08e7fee.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3230/2722265985_85cb7621f9.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2722266041_63dac1f236.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2722266113_5712dd6141.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/2722266165_df470d342e.jpg)

Hope you like  :)

You guys have done a superb job. Well done to all on getting those great images!. I think we can call this a complete success. Brian thought hard for his catch, by the sound of things it turned into an 'eclipse chase' - and you got a cracker result.

Paul, I would love to hear about the reactions from everyone at work when they saw the eclipse. It's great to see one, and even better to share it with others!

John, talk about an amazing day, an eclipse followed by a funnel (which prompted TORRO's alert) all before mid day. I can't take any credit for contacting the correct people, you deserve the credit for getting such a good set of images under pressure and on such short notice. Won't forget this day in a hurry. I know you have been after a funnel for some time now - and you got one. Let's hope for others. August has got of to a great start!. It would be some going if we also seen the Perseids and lunar eclipse  :)

I haven't even looked at my images yet, been out doing weather imaging all afternoon and evening.

Here is a wee mosaic I put together, all images as they were taken through filter (No adjustments)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/2723353184_6a0b5bdd34.jpg)

Well done everyone!  :)

Stevie, you got some superb shots there - the last one is the sharpest - keeping a 600mm lens with x2 crop factor in focus is hard work so well done there. John - great shot through the little Mak! Thanks John and Martin for the collaboration in getting my image up though I posted the SW link myself - I can't put any photos anywhere useful from work and it's getting worse as the censors close in >:(

p.

Thanks Paul, I forgot my tripod so all images were handheld but I had a good day watching it..  :D

Well done everyone - especially Paul whose image appeared on BBC Newsline!

Steven, those are very impressive images...and handheld!! - fantastic.

Congrats Paul on your SW and BBC appearance. No problem sorting out the image on the forum. John got the image, sent it to me, and I got it on. Lovely image to.

John, your image is a beauty to.

Here's a few of mine. Not great I know. I put a holder covered in baader solar filter over my camera's 300mm lens. I had serious problems getting focused due to intense sunlight. First image is a crop and the rest are at prime focus. Took loads of images and video (sorting it out now). It was the perfect eclipse. I was very pleased with the show. I did alot of visual observing using the ETX. Seen the bite easily with the naked eye because the clouds acted as perfect drfiting filters.

(http://i38.tinypic.com/1zq61c9.jpg)

(http://i38.tinypic.com/vdzllg.jpg)

(http://i33.tinypic.com/11bhogm.jpg)

Thanks Martin!!!  your shots are great, very atmospheric!!! look forward to reading your report on your web site. Well done....

Here's a youtube video I made of today's partial solar eclipse. Used a 300mm lens with solar filter. Speed is increased by a factor of 2. Note the impressive turbulent motion of the clouds, especially so after 2 min's into the clip. No surprising there was a funnel seen just after the eclipse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIo5z7AdxWw

Thanks very much Steven. I now have three image reports to do!. Can't complain though. I seen the best storm cells today in my entire life. They were straight out of the US!. (that's another report). Now I know why chasers use the 10-22mm wide angle lens!

Fantastic video Martin!!!! another classic song backing the video...  ;D

Hey Stevie, well done on catching those images, handheld is not that easy, I love that mosaic!

Brian, it was unfortunate about the weather, but you got what I didn't get, an image in the closing stages, well done!

Congrats Paul, saw you image on BBC!

Martin, I rather like those taken through the cloud, very atmospheric!

Well done everybody!  :) I think we will remember this day for at least 2 years!  :)

Brian, your image is very good! It's really shame about the weather.  :(

John, well done both on the eclipse and the funnel cloud

Steven, I like this mosaic even more than the bigger shots. Why those shots have so much of yellow?

Martin, nice images and a great videoclip. I really enjoyed watching!  :) The only wrong thing I've noticed - there was a lot of words "tonight" in the song - sounds incorrect for this video  ;)  :D

I had an EXCELLENT observation of an eclipse! The Sun was covered with Cu clouds for only 19 minutes of 124 minutes the eclipse lasted. I have more than 80 photos. Here is some of them:
through my scope's eyepiece (35x)
(http://s48.radikal.ru/i122/0808/b0/c650e37d2041.jpg) (http://www.radikal.ru)
projection using a binocular
(http://s46.radikal.ru/i112/0808/70/97fb7d1ede4f.jpg) (http://www.radikal.ru)
me observing...
(http://s61.radikal.ru/i174/0808/e7/e572ab4654a4.jpg) (http://www.radikal.ru)
eclipsed Sun emerging from behind the cloud
(http://s55.radikal.ru/i147/0808/b5/0525822da13f.jpg) (http://www.radikal.ru)

 :) Not only the eclipse observed yesterday. I had 2 nights in a row (Jul.31/Aug.01/02) with clear weather and sucessful observations of comet C/2007W1 and meteor activity.
W1 Boattini was visible on both nights, but faint and diffuse, approx. 7.0-7.5 mag, nicely situated near pi Aries.
Very good meteor activity, especially active were the Cassiopeides and Capricornides. ZHR of all showers together was in a range of 50...80 (maybe peaked higher) (Jul.31/Aug.01) and 20...35 (Aug.01/02). Very nice -3 mag meteor on the last night, one of the best that I saw this year.

I have now a huge amount of work to do, so the complete reports on this eclipse and the comet will be done in some weeks later. Tomorrow (Aug.03) I will leave home for a trip to Feodosiya, Crimea, and I will return on Aug.18. So wait for my observations of C/2007W1, Perseides&other and a lunar eclipse after Aug.18-20.
Have a luck with lunar eclipse and good bye  ;)

[I like this mosaic even more than the bigger shots. Why those shots have so much of yellow?]

Thanks for your comments Roman, I think it's my laptop as it is getting old.  :( I noticed how yellow it was when I checked on my work computer, need to invest in a new computer for home... 

Your images are great! look forward to seeing more...

Glad you liked the video Steven  :)

Roman , those are great shots. I like the twin eclipsed disks through the binos and that last shot of the eclipse and clouds. Very atmospheric!.

Your eclipse images are on page 3 of the Spaceweather.com solar eclipse gallery. Well done!

http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_01aug08_page3.htm

Thanks Steven and Martin

Hey Roman, those are great shots! Nice to see what % you got in Poltava. I like the self portrait, you look very prepared ;D

Thanks John. Today I've returned from a long trip, and in a few next days my Solar eclipse page will be done.