Great American Eclipse.

Benm · Aug 22, 2017

Merpie101 said:
oh ok i guess ill have to post a picture. will make a full post about this but for now have this nice photo i took of the diamond ring, 3 seconds before totality

edit: im still a little shaken from this eclipse. i need to go see more eclipses. these are truly amazing and once you see one in totality you will never forget.

also edit: new avatar. couldnt help myself

Excellent photo, the real thing

Seeing an other could be quite a difficult task - they are not -that- rare but often occur over locations that are very hard to access or have bad weather.

I'll probably see another in my lifetime, but considered to fly to the US for this one really, but as i have nothing else to do there it seemed a bit excessive both in time and money invested.

Hemlock_Mike · Aug 22, 2017

+ rep for that video. Thanks
HM

ElectricPlasma · Aug 22, 2017

Amazing picture and video Merpie, gotta rep you when I can.

Emialias · Aug 22, 2017

ElectricPlasma said:
Amazing picture and video Merpie, gotta rep you when I can.

thank you

CE5 · Aug 22, 2017

Wow! Lux & Merpie, to also know that you guys just make do bootstrapped, to capture these images is really cool! And Merpie, I do believe I did observe some shadow bands on your whiteboard. They were brief & quick and fast moving but to me I did catch a glimpse. They are so hard to capture properly because you almost have to pre-set a dedicated camera's contrast settings to catch them at all because of the quick transition. White sheets stretched taut are the next best thing to using whiteboards too, even those white plastic garbage bags slit open to provide more surface area works well in a pinch. The larger area that the sheets afford also aid in helping to capture those elusive 'snakes'. And Merpie, I am a little jealous of your new avatar. :bowdown: That was a great capture, and to see in real time how you achieved it was pretty special as well.
Thanks again guys!

RB astro · Aug 22, 2017

Merpie101 said:
also edit: new avatar. couldnt help myself

hehehe, hey Merpie, it kinda reminds me of a 465 spot using a G2 lens.

:crackup:

Edit: I was able to finally +rep both you and Lux, yay.....

RB

paul1598419 · Aug 22, 2017

@CE5
It was more than 95%. Probably closer to 98%. No, I didn't see any haze or smoke, but got some great shots of the billowing tree shadows on the road and the side of my car. I tried to get some photos using the filter from my cheap eclipse googles, but they didn't turn out well. It did get quite dark here and was surreal in the way that it looked.

CE5 · Aug 22, 2017

That was cool that you had clear skies for this. And being on the West coast, also added to the unique 'Dawn' eclipse rather than the afternoon 'clipse most other folks received. There was quite a bit of other stuff going on too, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter were all nearby and for instance on Merpies, clip that he posted there was some nice captures of 'helmet streamers' too.

And for anyone using a good zoom, or binoculars etc; something that provided magnification, there were also some prominent Sun Spots, now those I was able to observe and was glad for them because they afforded a nice surface feature contrast to enable a sharper focus. I did notice that Lux, was able to image some of the spots in a few of his pics. The following one in particular.

And even the ISS photobombed the show three times!

(The pic in the following link also shows the Sun Spots nicely too)

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/...-space-station-during-a-partial-solar-eclipse

paul1598419 · Aug 22, 2017

I enjoyed seeing the ISS during the partial eclipse traversing the sun. Seems like most everyone got in on this one. This is only the second one to come around in my lifetime and was much better than my first. I have watched a lunar eclipse once when I was in junior high, but after staying up all night, it was kind of anticlimactic.

Rivem · Aug 22, 2017

paul1598419 said:
I enjoyed seeing the ISS during the partial eclipse traversing the sun. Seems like most everyone got in on this one. This is only the second one to come around in my lifetime and was much better than my first. I have watched a lunar eclipse once when I was in junior high, but after staying up all night, it was kind of anticlimactic.

I make a point to always watch total lunar eclipses. They add an element of excitement to telescope work.

One of the best astronomy events I've ever been a part of was during the September 2015 one. I was with a bunch of my friends from the astro club, and we set up for a huge crowd of 300+ people on a mountain. During the Eclipse, we were pointing at tons of deep sky objects that would otherwise have been impossible to see during a full moon. My friends and I presented to such an enthusiastic audience, I feel like that's the longest astrophysics lecture I've ever given. The scenery was fantastic, and some amazing photos came out of that event.

I'd agree that it's not as exciting as a solar eclipse though. It happens pretty slowly, so I think it's more mesmerising. They are much more common for a given area, so definitely not as big of a deal.

paul1598419 · Aug 22, 2017

Yeah, I was thinking I would be out about three hours, but turned into many more than that. It was cool, but I was very tired afterwards. I have never felt the need to repeat the experience.

Rivem · Aug 22, 2017

paul1598419 said:
Yeah, I was thinking I would be out about three hours, but turned into many more than that. It was cool, but I was very tired afterwards. I have never felt the need to repeat the experience.

Haha Paul, you must not be an astronomer. A bunch of us pull all-nighters whenever there's an event with good conditions. I pulled an all-nighter at 8k Feet watching the Perseids. They get better as you get closer to the morning. It was freezing, but I got to see tons of meteor the whole time. Granted, my group does this with friends and equipment to spice things up. Really regretted missing it this year though. I was recovering from surgery, and it was unexpectedly gloomy weather from late June to a week ago.

paul1598419 · Aug 22, 2017

No, I was in junior high and about 13 at the time. My friend had a nice telescope that we used, but I wasn't into staying up all night to watch paint dry at that age. I won't forget it, but I won't repeat it either. I enjoyed watching meteor showers in Colorado. I was much older then.

Rivem · Aug 22, 2017

paul1598419 said:
No, I was in junior high and about 13 at the time. My friend had a nice telescope that we used, but I wasn't into staying up all night to watch paint dry at that age. I won't forget it, but I won't repeat it either. I enjoyed watching meteor showers in Colorado. I was much older then.

Understandable. It really is slow, but sometimes they can be timed pretty well. Definitely worth a look and some photos if you get an easy chance to see one. Good chance for some beamshots.

Back on the solar eclipse, did anybody see religious organizations preaching about the end times? There were two set up near our event.:crackup:

RB astro · Aug 22, 2017

paul1598419 said:
I have watched a lunar eclipse once when I was in junior high, but after staying up all night, it was kind of anticlimactic.

Rivem said:
I make a point to always watch total lunar eclipses. They add an element of excitement to telescope work.

Would you guys allow me to share my image from the 2007 Total Lunar Eclipse?
It's one I'm very proud of since it was published in Australia's Premiere Astro magazine that year in a double spread feature along with my other images of that eclipse.
I don't want to derail the thread but just wanted to share with you since the subject was brought up.
I find, as Paul said, partial lunar eclipses a bit ho-hum but when you get a total lunar eclipse it really is spectacular as it turns a deep red and the sky dims to the point where you can see all the constellations that are up at the time.
Anyway, just wanted to share this one with you.

RB

Alaskan · Aug 22, 2017

Beautiful, I am certain everyone would like to see your photo(s).

Great American Eclipse.

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