2010/2011 winter eclipses

[Roman White]

have planned to make a preparational observing session (...) on one of the days within Dec.28-30 or Jan.01-02.

Well, yesterday I have done some preparations for the upcoming eclipse. Though haven't still completely adjusted my telescope - had only a few minutes of clear (but extremely hazy) skies at sunset.
Despite clear skies and -10...-6C have been forecasted for Dec.29/30 night and Dec.30 until evening, in reality it turned out worse. Whole night the sky was 99% clouded with a thin but not transparent layer of Stratus - what a disappointment! And all next day long it was the same - 99% clouded with Stratus, however Sun was visible through it for ca. 10% of the time - that might be called a success if happens on the eclipse day!  
You can see check out some pictures at my blog. It may seem ridiculois to somebody, but I take into account that I would be probably observing the eclipse during (or just before/after) the snowfall. Actually, it happened to me once - exactly a year ago (partial lunar eclipse 31.12.2009).
Another point I was afraid of was the functionality of my laptop in winter outdoors conditions (-7 degress today, possible -15 on the eclipse day). I grabbed a quick-handmade thermobag, and it worked fine in my opinion: the temperature inside the bag was +7C. At the same time, one of the AA batteries have frozen - and became working only after putting it indoors.

[markt]

Good work on the preparation side of things Roman!  Sadly I fear cloudy skies for me, though, things may change...  I like your blog though I have to say!

[Roman White]

Thank you Mark!

1.5 days left, and a reliable weather forecast is available...
Best places for viewing the eclipse (with regard to weather) in Europe would be Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and NW Greece.
Most of other countries south of 49°N and north of 56°N would see it too, but with partly cloudy skies. In particular, partly cloudy weather is expected in Finnland and NW Russia, where the eclipse magnitude is greatest (>83%).

Central Ukraine is predicted to be... #$#$@... perhaps the worst place in Europe... despite the first week of January is mildly cold and mostly clear, Tuesday (with both adjacent nights) will provide us an intense snowfall (cyclone is due to come from Balcanic peninsula). I have some not clearly defined ideas to get on the wheels and go some 400km west - to see at least something through the clouds... 

P.S. Have made clouds/pressure animations for Europe and Ukraine (GFS model).

[markt]

Sadly it looks cloudy for me today / this morning, and also to top things offf my laptop seems to hsver died aswell   

[martinastro]

How depressing - crey cloud and drizzle the entire time ..grrrr

[Roman White]

Sorry to hear that guys! 

Poltava was clouded since previous night, and only some semi-transparent gaps allowed to see the Sun for a liitle time after the mid-eclipse.

But I did my first (and successful!) eclipse chase - went 180km NW from Poltava to the town of Pyriatyn, where the sky was mostly clear. There were some transparent Altocumulus present (<15%), but they have just partially obscured the Sun during the last 10-15 minutes before C4. The weather I've experienced was even BETTER THAN AUGUST 2008!
Btw it was cold enough (colder than I expected): -12C on average, and down to -14C at maximal eclipse. I was afraid not as much for myself getting cold, but more for my camera batterries which could die during those 3 hours-long session! Hopefully, I managed to take shots in 15-minutes intervals and other time both cameras were kept inside a warm pocket (and they survived!).
The things I had a luck to observe today are:

• all stages from C1 to C4, including maximum 79.6% magnitude (both visual and photographic session were 100% successful) 
• some small mountains on S & W parts of lunar limb, still nice with my equipment (76mm aperture solar-filtered at 35x)
• 1+6 sunspots and their occultations
• definite temperature drop of 2...3°C
• not very distinct fading of landscape & sky illumination
• excellent crescent shadows!
• as weather bonus: huge and very photogenic hoar frost, plenty of clear & dry snow and some iridiscence on the clouds (latter not photographed though)

An event of equal magnitude will occure in Poltava only in 2030, and the closest one (only 55%) is >4 years ahead too. Therefore, I hope to have many more events outside Poltava until those dates! 

P.S. Photoreport to follow in a day or two (I'm excited but quite exhausted right now)

[Roman White]

Cheers Dennis 

Omg, there are pretty a lot of successful reports from Western Siberia, where afternoon temperatures were between -40...-30C.  Here's link

[Big Dipper]

Having seen dazzling Venus in the southeast at around 6am, I kept everything crossed in the hope of seeing something of the eclipse.

Of course, yes you've guessed it - the hope was in vain here, too!

[rjgjr]

Great report Roman, looking forward to the animation Dennis. My big anticipation is still 6 1/2 years away, the Total Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017. It waill be right in my backyard, so to speak, only about 150 miles NE in the dry, high deserts of Eastern Oregon. Nothing like planning ahead.

[Roman White]

I've checked the satellite images from yesterday morning, as well as meteostations' reports, and I can tell you that most of the areas with the greatest eclipse magnitude - NE Sweden (Lulea), Finland, NW Russia (St.Petersburg, Pskov, Tver', Vologda) have been clouded out with pretty much of snow falling, and only some people had luck to see the Sun through the thick clouds.

P.S. Next partial eclipse of June 1st would be fun: in Murmansk (Russia) the eclipsed Sun (60%) would be at 2° above the northern horizon just after the local midnight.

[Roman White]

P.S. Photoreport to follow (...)

Most successful solar eclipse that I have observed so far...  


Country road where I set up my equipment. Btw, there was as much as 20...25 cm of snow on the ground.


Eclipse was only 1.5 hours after the sunrise


Binocular projection. (I didn't plan in advance to get those crescent shadows)  


The kind of weather I like! These transparent clouds kept away from the Sun until the very last minutes of the eclipse.  


Temperature drop measurments (sensor calibrated to 0.2°C)

[martinastro]

Roman these are an impressive collection of images which really bring your eclipse observing session to life for us to appreciate. The eclipse montage is stunning, and I love the images of the crisp clear sky, bright sun, and deep snow on the ground, the 2nd and 3rd images really convey your dedication to stay out in that feezing weather. Nicely done getting the crescent shadows and getting the temp graph. Congratulations Roman on a great session 

[martinastro]

Dennis, excellent animation! - you should upload that to youtube in my opinion 

[Roman White]

Martin and Dennis, thank you! 

[Big Dipper]

Dennis/Roman some spectacular solar eclipse images both. Thanks for sharing.