Eclipse from Colorado

The weather even at midnight was not promising- it was raining lightly
and there was just a slight glow through the clouds to suggest they
might not be too thick. Figured the eclipse would be a washout and went
to bed without setting the alarm. But I woke up at 3:30 and the
partially eclipsed Moon was hanging there outside the bedroom window, so
I forced myself to get up. Glad I did, since the night was completely
cloudless, with great transparency. Even with the Moon not yet totally
eclipsed, the LM was better than mag 6, and I could easily pick out 11
stars in the Pleiades.

I imaged the eclipse to near the end of totality, and watched it until
is set at dawn. This was one of the reddest eclipses I've seen, and it
was fun watching stars come and go behind the Moon during totality (a
couple naked-eye, and lots with my 7x50s). Saw a few nice meteors as
well.

I've posted a few images at
http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/pla...l20070828.html

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson nous a donc écrit :

The weather even at midnight was not promising- it was raining lightly
and there was just a slight glow through the clouds to suggest they
might not be too thick. Figured the eclipse would be a washout and
went to bed without setting the alarm. But I woke up at 3:30 and the
partially eclipsed Moon was hanging there outside the bedroom window,
so I forced myself to get up. Glad I did, since the night was
completely cloudless, with great transparency. Even with the Moon not
yet totally eclipsed, the LM was better than mag 6, and I could
easily pick out 11 stars in the Pleiades.

I imaged the eclipse to near the end of totality, and watched it until
is set at dawn. This was one of the reddest eclipses I've seen, and it
was fun watching stars come and go behind the Moon during totality (a
couple naked-eye, and lots with my 7x50s). Saw a few nice meteors as
well.

I've posted a few images at
http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/pla...l20070828.html

Happy guy, no eclipse in Europe
Nice pictures, Chris, with fine colors.

--
Norbert. (no X for the answer)
======================================
knowing the universe - stellar and galaxies evolution
http://nrumiano.free.fr
images of the sky http://images.ciel.free.fr
======================================

Chris L Peterson wrote:
The weather even at midnight was not promising- it was raining lightly
and there was just a slight glow through the clouds to suggest they
might not be too thick. Figured the eclipse would be a washout and went
to bed without setting the alarm. But I woke up at 3:30 and the
partially eclipsed Moon was hanging there outside the bedroom window, so
I forced myself to get up. Glad I did, since the night was completely
cloudless, with great transparency. Even with the Moon not yet totally
eclipsed, the LM was better than mag 6, and I could easily pick out 11
stars in the Pleiades.

Congratulations! This is a great lesson in how sometimes things turn out
better than expected -- if you're ready to observe.

Here in Sacramento, CA, the Moon rose out of a cloudy area near the
horizon -- but was then gorgeously clear, with the skies very nice
through the eclipse itself.

Mostly my stargazing with 7X50 binocs was directed to Sculptor as a
preparation for better locating NGC 253 with my Dob; here an LM of
mag 6 might be closer to obtaining for the 7X50's than the naked eye
grin. Thanks for the reminder that I should look for those beautiful
Pleiades!

I imaged the eclipse to near the end of totality, and watched it until
is set at dawn. This was one of the reddest eclipses I've seen, and it
was fun watching stars come and go behind the Moon during totality (a
couple naked-eye, and lots with my 7x50s). Saw a few nice meteors as
well.

I saw some stars quite close to the totally eclipsed Moon, although in
LM 3.5 skies not as many! It would have been fun to watch the Moon
hide and then reveal these stars -- what's the proper term for that?

I've posted a few images at
http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/pla...l20070828.html

I'll have to check these out -- and, again, thanks for a great report.
There's lots for a newcomer for me to learn from your posts.

With many thanks,

Margo

On 28 Aug 2007 21:17:18 GMT, Margo Schulter
wrote:

Thanks for the reminder that I should look for those beautiful
Pleiades!

It was quite warm out this morning, in the low 50s. I'm not used to
seeing the Pleiades or Orion under those conditions. Usually those
objects are associated with subzero observing around here. Just seeing
them is almost enough to make me shiver, regardless of the actual
temperature!


I saw some stars quite close to the totally eclipsed Moon, although in
LM 3.5 skies not as many! It would have been fun to watch the Moon
hide and then reveal these stars -- what's the proper term for that?

You would be correct using "eclipse", but "occultation" is the better
term. "Eclipse" is potentially ambiguous since it can mean that one body
either goes behind the other, or passes into its shadow. "Occultation"
means only the former.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On 28 Aug 2007 21:17:18 GMT, Margo Schulter
wrote:

Thanks for the reminder that I should look for those beautiful
Pleiades!

It was quite warm out this morning, in the low 50s. I'm not used to
seeing the Pleiades or Orion under those conditions. Usually those
objects are associated with subzero observing around here. Just seeing
them is almost enough to make me shiver, regardless of the actual
temperature!

Hi Chris,

funny you should mention this.

I was out around 5am here in the North Country (up-up-upstate NY) to
watch the eclipse and I noticed these three very bright equidistant
stars .. it took me a while to figure out that I was looking at the
belt of Orion ;-)

I'd have recognized this in the cold of winter in no time.

Beautiful to see the moon change so rapidly this morning, what a treat.

Esmail

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On 28 Aug 2007 21:17:18 GMT, Margo Schulter
wrote:

Thanks for the reminder that I should look for those beautiful
Pleiades!

It was quite warm out this morning, in the low 50s. I'm not used to
seeing the Pleiades or Orion under those conditions. Usually those
objects are associated with subzero observing around here. Just seeing
them is almost enough to make me shiver, regardless of the actual
temperature!

One of my fondest memories was going out to observe Saturn(?) early one
October morning. Expecting it to be in the mid-40's to low-50F's I got out
there to find it was in the upper-60's. Orion was just appearing over the
tree tops and the warmth of the air had an odd, surealistic effect on time
and season.

-Steve P.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Excellent Chris, excellent!