Skywatchers' Journal

[Turtle]

So what are those two planets I see?

Is the brightest one Venus?

 

in the west, and close together, are Venus & Saturn. brightest of the 2 is Venus, yes.

 

the moon of course just about S, and then roughly SSE or so is Jupiter.

 

cloudy with mizzle here tonight along the columbia river. :hyper:

[Queso]

Manatee river's flopping 'gainst the mangroves, thank you Turtle.

[Turtle]

Here's some preparatory stuff for tomorrow evening's total lunar eclipse.

 

A link to an animation with exact times across US: >> Shadow & Substance Home Page

 

It will peak here PacificDaylightTime at 3:37am. It looks promising for me to have a view out a window within cord range of the computer for my tape-don't-work camera. :cup: :eek:

 

Any one else planning to view and or photograph the eclipse?

[Jay-qu]

yup, Im going to have a look through binoculars - maybe my scope, and will see what it looks like taking pics on my basic digi camera

[Turtle]

yup, Im going to have a look through binoculars - maybe my scope, and will see what it looks like taking pics on my basic digi camera :xparty:

 

Acknowledged. :singer: Here's my first photo; taken ~8:45 PM PDT. I plan on taking one every 20 min or so once the eclipse starts here around 2:30 AM. :naughty: Here's another article. >> http://hypography.com/forums/news-brief/12627-tuesday-mornings-lunar-eclipse.html :surprise:

 

[Queso]

I'll be with my telescope. See you guys there

[Queso]

that was so intense!

[Jay-qu]

That was really cool :D

 

The initial eclipsing part was thwarted by some cloud cover, but it cleared up in time to see the total eclipse and the uncovering ;)

 

I tried to take some pics but Im pretty sure they turned out rubbish.. ohwell

[DougF]

Turtle

A link to an animation with exact times across US: >> Shadow & Substance Home Page

Any one else planning to view and or photograph the eclipse?

 

Cool link Turtle. :D

 

Yes I Took 12 Photo's up to the Full eclipse but have to wait till I can download them should be able to post them tonight. ;)

[Turtle]

My montage. ;)

 

[Jay-qu]

Well done turtle, thats excellent ;) what where you using to snap those shots?

[DougF]

These photos where taken with a Panasonic Digital still camera / palmcorder with 250 x zoom I took 12 photos from Central Florida at 5:40 to 6:00 am.

I would have posted all 12 photos but ran out of space.

[Turtle]

Well done turtle, thats excellent :lol: what where you using to snap those shots?

I used a SonyHandycam on a tripod & set to manual exposure so I could ramp down the light. I captured stills from the recording for the montage. Here's the same 2:39am shot as in the montage but with the exposure ramped up; you loose all detail in bright lit parts. :D

 

I hope to have a short video time-lapse with some help from Ace. :hihi: :hihi:

[freeztar]

Awesome!!! :hihi:

 

I had to miss this one unfortunately, but the pictures do it justice! :hihi:

[Turtle]

Awesome!!! :hihi:

 

I had to miss this one unfortunately, but the pictures do it justice! :cup:

 

Much abliged. Wait'll you see the movie. :D Here it is, and props to my film editor Ace Banyon. :hihi: :lol:

 

YouTube - Total Lunar Eclipse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpF4h9_cndw

[Turtle]

Another late night/early morning skywatching event; around 4:30am Pacific Daylight Time we mave a veritable meteor storm possible from the Aurigid meteors. Early reports look promising for hitting the narrow motherload of debri from Comet Kiess which passed a few thousand years ago.

 

Here's more info from Spaceweather.com, or visit your favorite astronomy site. >> SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

 

skymap >> http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/aurigids/skymap_north.gif

 

I think I will set an alarm for 3:00 am as I still haven't recovered from staying up all night for the eclipse. Possiblility I may get to borrow a camera again. :eek: :hihi: We'll see. :doh: :D

[Turtle]

Another late night/early morning skywatching event; around 4:30am Pacific Daylight Time we mave a veritable meteor storm possible from the Aurigid meteors. Early reports look promising for hitting the narrow motherload of debri from Comet Kiess which passed a few thousand years ago.

... We'll see. :cup:

 

Nothin' that is; we'll see nuthin'. At least I saw nothin'. So I have a couple questions now.

 

#1 since Earth passes through comet tails for many meteor showers, does this mean the comets that left the dust could hit Earth in the future?:eek:

 

#2 why do the dust bits stay in the same place in Earth's orbit year after year? why doesn't the solar wind push the tail material outward?:confused:

 

that's a wrap.