What a great sight, I was on a fire-fighting course but the organisers allowed for a 15 minute break at 8:30 so we all managed a to get a good look at the eclipse.
The skies were crystal clear down here, cant wait until the next one.
That was wonderful! A friend walked me out to my car this evening close to 9pm & she did a double-take, pointed frantically at the sky & yelled out "What's up with the moon?". Of course .... the eclipse! Earlier in the evening there was cloud cover & I thought we wouldn't see anything. Although we were standing in suburban Lake Macquarie with a big street light in front of us we still had a magnificent view. It must have been totally stunning away from city lights ... and I left my camera at home. But it certainly made my night I tell you. It's been over 30 years since I've had any real interest in astronomy and I think my passion has just been re-ignited!!
What a brilliant night. I had a beautiful sunset looking over Tuggerah Lake, but what made the sunset beautiful made the start of the eclipse frustrating.
High patchy clouds ruined the first half of the partial phase, but they cleared by about 7:45pm and the rest of the night was crystal clear - and not a drop of dew, which was very fortunate due to all the lenses I had pointed in the air.
I didn't really have the equipment I needed/wanted to take the photographs I dreamed of, but I'm sure there's something I can salvage out of what I did take. You have to do the best with the equipment you've got. I got some lovely sunset shots though
Totality was brilliant. Awe-inspiring. Breath-taking. To see stars next to the full moon, to see the milky way, to see meteors zipping around - all at full moon, man what a buzz.
It was great to share it with my family who came along for a few hours, and also one of the Berkeley Vale locals (Ash) who kept me company . He enjoyed the sight through my 12" dob while we talked about astronomy.
The event was much better and more exciting than I'd hoped for. I wish there was another one sooner, but I guess if they were more common they wouldn't quite as exciting.
Thanks to all the new members for signing up and posting your experiences and photos.
Last Sunday I arranged to take my 10" Dob to the Casino motor home village for the eclipse, but nearly didn't go last night because it was 90% cloudy at 6:30pm. Luckily I decided not to cancel, because it cleared up to about 10% cloud. I showed the lunar eclipse, Jupiter and some bright deep sky objects to more than 20 people all told at four different locations. After the motor home village I set up at McDonald's then a taxi rank in town and finally at a teacher's place near where I live. The lights in town were a problem but people enjoyed it anyway.
Perfect night in the mountains. A fair size froup from WSAAG was at Linden with a few blowins Seeing was brilliant and we saw the whole event with no clouds or any other interuptions. It was amazing to watch the orange/red full moon occultating faint stars which are normally not visible.
Started a little cloudy, then moon disappeared for about an hour under a heavier cover, then suddenly, it was clear and beautiful. A 3 dimentional red orb hanging in a star studded sky, and it lasted for ages. Best eclipse I have seen , 4 years until the next, and 2012 for total solar eclipse in FNQ!!
So you had good clear skies for the eclipse while many in Melbourne had cloud.
How many did you get out to Snake Valley?
Approx 50.
To the City folk, that probably doesn't sound like many people attending, but when you think that our population is only 250, that means 1/5th of the population came along!!!
Can City folk say that
I also got phone calls from other locals asking which direction to look. So I think most of the town was watching it from thier own location
To the City folk, that probably doesn't sound like many people attending, but when you think that our population is only 250, that means 1/5th of the population came along!!!
Can City folk say that
I also got phone calls from other locals asking which direction to look. So I think most of the town was watching it from thier own location
Ken,
My hat goes off to you...not literately but you know what I mean.
To get that many people motivated with such a small population, is indeed an excellent effort.
When I come across to Melbourne, in the future, I would love to come out to Snake Valley.
We had a great night also. Light cloud until about totality then clear and beautiful.
I have a question for you boffins though. A mate of mine who is colour blind couldn't see the "red" in the eclipse - it went from black to grey as the shadow came across. However, when he saw a picture of the eclipse he could see the colour in it (what he knows as "red"). His wife, who he asked what colour the moon had gone (when viewing by naked eye), said the picture was the same colour as the real thing.
How does that work? Is it the low light levels or something to do with the frequency of "red" produced during the eclipse?