Joined: May 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 4,206 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth,
14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Thread Started on Mar 15, 2006, 4:52am »
The Chicago Astronomers Observe the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
It's always an anxious day prior to an eclipse, making sure the day's activities are wrapped up, getting equipment ready and hoping for clear skies.
Everything fell into place, and I was going to see an eclipse this day! I arrived at the lakefront behind the Adler Planetarium at around 5:15 pm, and considering the fierce winds blowing, I used the Doane Observatory as a wind break. It did help a bit, but the gusts were pretty bad at times. The darkening sky was pretty and clouds were painted deep colors. I sat down on my folding chair and just enjoyed the quiet moment by myself and in preparation to the intense observation to come. Great being an astronomer, eh?
Earlier, I sent out a mass cell phone text messages to my local members about the event, and received confirmations of participation. It's always better in sharing a session with friends.
Chicago Astronomer Steve met up with me bundled to defy the late winter winds, and so we began our vigil. I was first to spot the faint reddish orb peeking over the horizon and we focused our equipment to it. Squashed, bubbling and deformed, the Moon clearly showed evidence of eclipse activity...excellent!...
I use a simple Kodak digital camera, held by hand to the eyepiece, nothing fancy, but the results are quite cool. (Note: I adjusted the orientation on some images, and on others I did not...so please look at your monitor in a mirror and stand on your head on some... )
It rose quickly from its hiding place and put space very fast between it and the horizon. I attempted to take pics as best I could, but the winds were fighting me and making it difficult.
Some images are taken from my 4.5", but others are shot through my new the 60mm finder scope...(which is quite cool I must say.)
The view of the crimson Moon was great, playing among the distant clouds and shimmering in the telescope and binoculars, it was quite awe inspiring.
Steve takes a peek at the Moon while I fiddle around with camera, eyepieces and radio...gotta have tunes! Not many people this time around, too cold, not many knew of the event and besides...we were kinda hidden behind the observatory.
As it got higher, the darkened edge was not as noticeable now, but with a trained eye it was there to enjoy.
Steve kept announcing to me that here comes a jet across the face, take the shot!!!...and I kept missing it. The camera was recycling, I was not ready, not focused etc.... But, I did mange to get this one of a small twin prop aircraft in silhouette...
Chicago Astronomer Fred and his wife joined in on the session and always good to have their smiles and prescence...
* I had attached a polarizer filter between the focuser and secondary...makes for good contrast.
On this next one, I increased the contrast in post-production and adjusted other factors and I think it came out nice...
Excellent shading and the semi-bite looks nice.
Now the Moon was getting brighter and lighter as it rose and the eclipse effect was hardly noticeable now...
But, as Chicago Astronomer Tim pointed out in another thread here, ( http://astronomer.proboards23.com/index.....42386116&page=1 ) the Moon was exhibiting extraordinary bright light pillars shooting out from the top and the bottom. At first, I thought the winds gunked up my eyes and I was seeing things. I pointed the phenomenon to the others, and they too witnessed the pillars. I "eclipsed" the Moon with my thumb and the pillars were even more evident! This was quite cool!...
Clouds were heavier now and the wisps passing in front made it quite errie and made a good shot...
With my simple digital camera, I was not able to capture the pillars, but as the clouds from time to time totally covered the face of the Moon, but the pillars stood out dramatically from behind the cloudcover.
Chicago Astronomer Linda stopped by on the way home for some observation and brought along her binoculars. Glad she stopped by to share her enthusiasm with us all...
But now, the cloud cover was getting thicker and the sucker holes were less frequent. And so at about 7:45 pm, we called it a night...satisfied on a good urban penumbral lunar eclipse under our belts...and documented on the Chicago Astronomer.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde 1854-1900
Steve Cosgrove Guest
Re: 14 March 2006: Pre-Umbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #1 on Mar 15, 2006, 8:39am »
Lots of fun! The moon looked absolutely great over the lake. Glad to see you caught a plane passing in front of the moon. I think it was a big jet and farther away than you think, but a crisp shot in any case. Good work! Send to Adler picture of the month! -Steve
Joined: May 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 4,206 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth,
Re: 14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #2 on Mar 16, 2006, 1:39am »
Penumbral Lunar Eclispe Image in SpaceWeather.com
I certainly had a good time watching the eclipse and sharing it with friends. And what makes it even more an enjoyable session is not only did I capture a cool lunar shot with an aircraft transiting the face, but Space Weather.com has included it in their "Eclipse Gallery"...
Joined: May 2004 Gender: Female Posts: 14 Location: Buhl, Idaho
Re: 14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #3 on Mar 16, 2006, 10:14am »
I enjoyed these pictures very much. The plane crossing the moon was awesome! Forgive my ignorance but what are pillars? It must be a term related to the eclipse that I am not familiar with. I cannot see anything that looks like pillars of light. Help!
Joined: May 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 4,206 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth,
Re: 14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #4 on Mar 16, 2006, 1:57pm »
Cathy,
How nice to hear from you and thank you for the kudos on the Lunar/plane image I took. I like it alot and I think I'll frame it.
Quote:
Forgive my ignorance but what are pillars?
The only ignorance is not asking...
Regarding the "Pillars"...
The light pillars that we saw beaming from the Moon during the recent eclipse really had little to do with the eclipse itself, but purely an atmospheric phenomenon.
A condition similar to rainbows in where sunlight passes through raindrops to break up white light into it's color componants, the moon's reflected light in this case was passing through moisture in the air. Probably high atmospheric ice crystals or water vapor, it polarized the light into "Pillars" as it reached our eyes.
Pillars can occur when any bright object interacts with the moisture in the atmosphere. The Moon, Venus, the Sun and even bright street lights can create this. Above you can see the "Pillars" from the setting sun.
This is a fairly local phenomenon, depending on weather conditions.
Thanks for your question, it's nice to jog the brain cells from time to time....
Joined: Sept 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 295 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
Re: 14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #5 on Mar 16, 2006, 6:01pm »
Congratulations, Joe. It's pretty cool to see your pics posted by someone. Maybe one of these days we can bumrush Astronomy magazine and get some stuff printed in their mag.
12" Celestron Starhopper Canon 10D : Sigma APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM : Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 DC OS : Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Dynatran AT-858BL : Dynatran AM-101KB
Joined: May 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 4,206 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth,
Re: 14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #6 on Mar 17, 2006, 1:32am »
Fellow Chicago Astronomers,
The response to my Lunar/aircraft pic shot during the eclipse has been sweet. It has generated many visitors to this site and some have taken the time to whisk me a quick note of appreciation.
I am humbled by the acknowledgements... #blush#
Here are some I thought I would share with you:
I liked that image of the plane & Moon under eclipse taken By You ..
Have a Nice Day
Regards, Dr Prabodhan Potdar , Mumbai INDIA
===========================
I like the small plane against the massiveness of the Moon.
Thanks for sharing.
Phil
Kansas ===========================
Awesome, Joe!! Great photo!
-Katie
Chicago, IL
==========================
Joe,
Incredible shot from a handheld digital camera. You must be rock steady!
E. Baum
Plano, Texas
==========================
Congratulations Joe! That awesome. I also noticed that they slipped in a link to the Chicago Astronomer website!
Excellent!
-Linda
Chicago, IL
==========================
Joe --
Congratulations on the publication of your photo. It truly is a great shot. It may become a classic. Well done!
Curt
Arlington Heights, IL
==========================
hello sir, great photographs regards rajan joshi
London
==========================
I enjoyed your eclipse story and the pictures.
Angie
Ontario, Canada
=========================
I try to take moon photographs, but they never look like yours.
Joined: May 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 4,206 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth,
Re: 14 March 2006: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse... « Reply #8 on Mar 18, 2006, 1:38pm »
Jaime,
Thank you for your note of appreciation all the way from the west coast. I hope you followed along with us thru our experience, as the Moon rose over the lake and appeared "slightly different". It was great fun.
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