Eclipse-May 20th 2012

[chief-david]

Most know there is an eclipse this weekend

here are animations of states that can see it.

http://shadowandsubstance.com/  what a great site.

software: www.stellariam.org   free-no bugs- can set the sky to show what is happening  anywhere, anytime.

I have to teach my students how to look at it with a card and a hole.
But right now-looking at thunderstorms Saturday night in Minnesota

happy watching



ps-still looking forward to Aug 2017.

[DanS]

... as well as June 5th evening, for you (June 6th morning for us), the transit of Venus across the sun. I'm ready and fingers are crossed for a cloudless day then. 

[SlowModem]

Thanks for posting that.  I had not heard of it.

[DanS]

Thanks for posting that.  I had not heard of it.

Last chance to catch this until 2117. I'll be so ticked if it's overcast that morning. 

[bwh13]

The original post for the Stellarium software was spelled incorrectly:

www.stellarium.org

Looks like a sweet program.

Thanks!

[jgillett]

http://shadowandsubstance.com/  what a great site.

Nifty site - thanks for putting that up. Looks like I'll get most of it here in Phoenix.

software: www.stellariam.org   free-no bugs- can set the sky to show what is

Already have this. Very nice as well.

[gwwilk]

The site and the program are both phenomenal.  Shadow and Substance shows a total solar eclipse to occur right across the nation's midsection on August 21, 2017, and I'm lucky enough to be right in its path.  That's something to look forward to.  It will be the third one I've experienced without leaving home.

Thanks, guys!

[Garth Bock]

I got the camera ready and am working on the scope for Sunday. Here we will have have about a .5 eclipse right at sundown. However, pics will be awesome anyway. Don't worry I have a full set of approved filters. One covers the aperture of my 8" Schmidt Cassegrain and I have solar filters for the camera and my solar viewing specs from several past eclipses. One thing....weather may be turning against me. Starting to cloud up and Sunday doesnt look too good. I have a place picked out anyway to the west of town where it is flat and is just corn and bean fields to the horizon.

[chief-david]

The site and the program are both phenomenal.  Shadow and Substance shows a total solar eclipse to occur right across the nation's midsection on August 21, 2017, and I'm lucky enough to be right in its path. 

The site and program get used in my science class.  Many of my students have used it too

The eclipse in '94 was great too. I had my students do the card trick and every few minutes, they traced the outline of the eclipse and recorded the time. 
Made a great timeline for them.


As for 2017:
I already have plans to stay in Cameron or Maryville, MO the night before. It would be even better if the Chiefs had a preseason game that weekend.
I graduated from Northwest Missouri St in Maryville. 
Then the wife drops the line-That is when Kid 1 will be getting ready for college.  Talk about ruining plans before they can happen. 



The kids and I went out to see the eclipse tonight.  I explained what was happening and used the reverse binocular trick, hole in the card.  It all worked.
Then a mechanic walked up with a welders helmet.  Perfect view.  Since I did not know if it was a #14, I looked quick and then away.
It was still way cool.

[d_l]

We were almost exactly in the path of the eclipse here in Reno.  Perfect annular ring as far as my sophisticated instrumentation could tell (two cardboard sheets with a pinhole).  The sky was noticeably darker and the air was cooler during the peak of the eclipse.  My VP2 recorded the changes.  Some clouds passing just before the peak almost wiped out the viewing.

[DanS]

... as well as June 5th evening, for you (June 6th morning for us), the transit of Venus across the sun. I'm ready and fingers are crossed for a cloudless day then. 

I found one site that will broadcast the entire Venus transit on-line if you can't see it from your location.

[Garth Bock]

    Clear day on Saturday. Did a test of the Celestron scope, cleaned all optics, prep'ed 120mm film camera, checked all filters. Everything looked good. Sunday...clear day...in the morning. Looked at a couple of sunspots and did a test set up and shot one exposure. Everything looked ready.....and then the clouds rolled in. At 5pm it was totally overcast and then it rained. We were only supposed to get a .6 eclipse but I was going to use it as a test run for the Venus transit. All is not lost, I plan to do some planetary shots when the weather stabilizes. I have one roll of Pan X film left and then after that I guess it will be time to retire the large format cameras.

[Garth Bock]

Ok those of you lucky to have seen the eclipse did your stations record a dip in temps ? Do you have a chart to match against the start of the eclipse to whatever 'totallity/partiality' you had ? Just curious.....

[chief-david]

Ok those of you lucky to have seen the eclipse did your stations record a dip in temps ? Do you have a chart to match against the start of the eclipse to whatever 'totallity/partiality' you had ? Just curious.....

Hadn't thought of that.  None of my graphs showed anything-Temp-UV-Solar rad.
But it was happening during sundown. 

[SLOweather]

It was right at sundown here, so no anomalous temperature dip. However, solar dropped off more linearly than normal, and then there was an out-of-the-ordinary bump on the solar graph that I noticed on several of the WeatherElement sites.