Clear skies today of course... Ridiculous... The Sydney Observatory didn't even have a live stream yesterday (they did for past eclipses, just to announce that it could not take place because of bad weather, so I guess they didn't even try this time). I think NSW has been the worst place for eclipses in the last few years.
Great but also very sad night as I observed the lunar eclipse with Bengt, my great friend and solar eclipse observing partner of nearly 20 years. He is very ill and after 12 solar eclipse chases together since 2001 with only one clouded out this was our last observation of an eclipse together.
True to my word I have given David Hough co-credit on the image. David's selfless act of publicly stating that he was staying away from this area resulted in an immediate improvement in our regions weather prognosis. We saw much of the eclipse with some periods of cloud giving us time for a much needed coffee break.
Great but also very sad night as I observed the lunar eclipse with my great friend and solar eclipse observing partner of nearly 20 years. He is very ill and after 12 solar eclipse chases together since 2001 with only one clouded out this was our last observation of an eclipse together.
True to my word I have given David Hough co-credit on the image. David's selfless act of publicly stating that he was staying away from this area resulted in an immediate improvement in our regions weather prognosis. We saw much of the eclipse with some periods of cloud giving us time for a much needed coffee break.
Thanks Houghy!
Joe Cali
well Joe. I think a lot of others fell on their sword as well. i must applaud the imaging results that were broadcast live by NASA from the Griffith observatory, even though i was seething it did take the edge off
I stayed out till 12.30am running two cameras and scopes- Tak babyQ and 60Da, and 106N and ZWOASI094 full frame OSC. It was a beautiful night but sadly a work night so I packed up at that time. I have tons of images I need to go through after work this Saturday night and will post some then. I was hoping to do an animation- any suggestions on software to use? Most of my images are either Canon raw or fits.
Cheers
Graham
The live streams were a godsend. I can't imagine how it must be to live in a place with bad weather without being able to see anything at all. And some had commentaries too. Astonishingly one of the Slooh astronomers (a young woman) said she had never seen a total eclipse before, and the other astronomer said only twice, and he looked at least 10 years older than she. 3:28:46 here: https://www.space.com/19195-night-sk...-webcasts.html
I had a 10 second window around 00:46 last night. Quick glimpse of orange. Went to bed. I think Matt and Joe blew the clouds this way to save themselves - NOT FAIR!
I had a 10 second window around 00:46 last night. Quick glimpse of orange. Went to bed. I think Matt and Joe blew the clouds this way to save themselves - NOT FAIR!
Well I'm glad that's over with, packed the car yesterday afternoon and headed southwest toward hopefully clearer skies. Was limiting myself to a range of a tankful of petrol for the round trip, (tight budget), with the BOM satellite scans and CFN predictions as a guide.
Ended up south of Braidwood at sunset with no break in the cloud mass in sight though the edge of the cloud band was supposed to move north during the evening, so I picked a spot to wait it out. The cloud didn't seem to want to dissipate as eclipse time got closer and it didn't. By 11:00pm I thought I could see a possible edge to the cloud band on the southern horizon but it never got closer unfortunately.
So, an 500+km round trip to see and image nothing, so much for the planning and going by accounts, if I had ventured a bit further south down the Cooma Rd I probably would have got under clearer skies. From where I was to Michelago as the crow flies was not that far, less than 100 km so it was a little demoralising to read the reports of the guys that were there and who got to see some of the show.
To all who had clearer skies, thanks for sharing your images, most appreciated and to the CFN guys, thanks for your efforts in keeping us updated with the cloud forecasts for the evening. Now we can plan to do it all again on 28th July, with more success I hope.
Wow, what a success. CFN had our forecast spot on (Lumeah meteogram)
We set up eight telescopes not knowing how many people would show up.
Kojonup, population about 2400 and in the course of the evening we had about 200 visitors.
The 'scopes ranged from a 12 inch home made truss dob,down to a 2 inch refractor.
A couple of Mead LX's a wooden home made 6 inch f5 newtonian and a Skywatcher 8 inch f6 dob.
It was suggested that phones could be used at the,2 inch 35mm, eyepiece of the Skywatcher dob and 20mm eyepiece in the 6 inch newtonian. Two hours of continuous photography ensued. Gee, the other scopes had time to look at other bright goodies.
What a thrill to see such enthusiasm from entire families from the entire cross section of the community.
A very successful outreach event.
Well I'm glad that's over with, packed the car yesterday afternoon and headed southwest toward hopefully clearer skies. Was limiting myself to a range of a tankful of petrol for the round trip, (tight budget), with the BOM satellite scans and CFN predictions as a guide.
Ended up south of Braidwood at sunset with no break in the cloud mass in sight though the edge of the cloud band was supposed to move north during the evening, so I picked a spot to wait it out. The cloud didn't seem to want to dissipate as eclipse time got closer and it didn't. By 11:00pm I thought I could see a possible edge to the cloud band on the southern horizon but it never got closer unfortunately.
So, an 500+km round trip to see and image nothing, so much for the planning and going by accounts, if I had ventured a bit further south down the Cooma Rd I probably would have got under clearer skies. From where I was to Michelago as the crow flies was not that far, less than 100 km so it was a little demoralising to read the reports of the guys that were there and who got to see some of the show.
To all who had clearer skies, thanks for sharing your images, most appreciated and to the CFN guys, thanks for your efforts in keeping us updated with the cloud forecasts for the evening. Now we can plan to do it all again on 28th July, with more success I hope.
Ridiculous... The Sydney Observatory didn't even have a live stream yesterday (they did for past eclipses, just to announce that it could not take place because of bad weather, so I guess they didn't even try this time). I think NSW has been the worst place for eclipses in the last few years.
well 
Joe. 
