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[Centaur]

A total lunar eclipse will occur during the night of 2008 FEB 20/21. As with any Full Moon, it will be visible from the entire nighttime side of the Earth. Most or all of it will be seen in the Americas, Europe and Africa.

The maximum magnitude in the umbra will be 1.105. That means during totality the greatest separation between the edge of the umbra (dark portion of Earth’s shadow) and the nearest point on the limb of the Moon will be 10.5% of a lunar diameter. The greatest possible magnitude is 1.881.

This will be the last total lunar eclipse until 2010 DEC 21, although there will be three partial lunar eclipses between now and then.

Below are my predictions for the various stages of the event in Central Standard Time. I use the French Rule for shadow sizes and know of no other source that takes into account the oblate shape of the Earth.

18:37 CST– Moon enters penumbra (gray fringe shadow)
19:43 CST– Moon enters umbra (dark inner shadow)
20:18 CST– 50% of Moon’s diameter covered by umbra (magnitude 0.500)
21:01 CST– Totality begins (magnitude 1.000)
21:26 CST– Maximum eclipse (magnitude 1.105)
21:51 CST– Totality ends (magnitude 1.000)
22:34 CST– 50% of Moon’s diameter covered by umbra (magnitude 0.500)
23:09 CST– Moon exits umbra (dark inner shadow)
00:16 CST– Moon exits penumbra (gray fringe shadow)

I’ve created graphics that illustrate the stages of the eclipse as seen from Arlington Heights, Illinois and London, England. They should well serve most observers in North America or Europe. They can be seen by clicking: www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

Photos and descriptions of the eclipse would be welcome additions to this thread.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Man...I hate cold weather events....but if it's clear...I'll be out at the Adler Planetarium manning a telescope.

Thanks Curt for the data!

[Centaur]

admin said:

Man...I hate cold weather events....but if it's clear...I'll be out at the Adler Planetarium manning a telescope.

I know what you mean about cold weather, Joe, but Mother Nature often gives us no choice. I remember the first lunar eclipse that I observed. It was on a cold night in late winter of 1960. During a Friday afternoon as a high school freshman, I was in the school library looking through an astronomy book. I could not believe my good fortune when I read there would be a total lunar eclipse that weekend. Normally, the teacher of my morning science class would have given us a heads-up, but not that time.

Snow was covering the ground and the air was cold that Saturday night. The Moon was predicted to enter the umbra about a half hour after midnight on Sunday morning March 13. A few minutes before that my neighbor friend in a parka was tapping on my bedroom window to be certain that my brother and I were awake. After Mom made sure we were all warmly dressed, my three younger brothers and I joined our friend outside with my trusty 3” reflector “Moonscope”. Despite the cold, we all had a blast marveling at that wonder of nature.

Around two o'clock, while the Moon was still totally eclipsed, my mother insisted that we go back to bed. We did, but I kept taking peeks out the bedroom window to witness the Moon emerging from the umbra.

On Monday morning our science teacher asked the class if any of us had seen the eclipse. Three of us raised our hands. He apologized for not warning us of the event, but then invited us to sign a pledge to join him on the school grounds to watch Halley’s Comet in March of 1986. By 1986 Palatine Township High School had been torn down and the assembly never occurred. We’ll never know how many former students would have shown up in the cold to witness the comet. Actually, it was a disappointing apparition of that comet. Lunar eclipses are much more fun.

[Centaur]

It will be interesting to see whether ash spewed into the atmosphere by the Ecuadoran volcano affects the coloration of the eclipse. If so, we may get a dark eclipse without the copper hue that some are hoping to witness. Although the eclipse will be far from central, thus increasing its brightness. The effect of volcanic dust will not be known until the eclipse actually occurs. The reports will be worth reading and may add to discussions of global warming.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

This will be the coldest Lunar Eclipse I can say I have every been witnessed to. Temps will stay in the single digits, but it will be unusually clear for the event.

We will assemble telescopes by the Adler Planetarium, but face the Lake Michigan winds. We do this for science.

If we survive, images coming soon.

[Bryant]

Holy macarole it's going to be cold tonight! Only plus side of that one is that it probably guarantees that we'll have nice clear skies for the eclipse! This will be my first, so I'm hoping I won't be disappointed. Maybe keep the car running so I don't get too cold!

[Centaur]

A beautiful Full Moon can now be seen rising in the eastern sky over Chicagoland. The sky is perfectly clear and will likely remain that way for the night. Hooray! The situation would be perfect if we could get the temperature to rise above the current 14° F rather than fall to below zero. Brrr!

[Bryant]

Speaking of astronomical happenings this fine (albeit chilly) evening, did anyone see that satellite that they're supposed to shoot down? Someone informed me you could see it pass from the west to the north at around 6:29, but I failed to see anything. In all honesty wasn't expecting to.. satellites are pretty dim and with that full moon shining, it's not exactly the best night for viewing dim objects!

[katodog]

I am still uploading the pics form tonight onto the computer. I had two cameras running, the Fuji S6000fd, and a Canon 10D on the Megrez for prime photography shots. By the looks on the LCD monitor, the pics are going to come out at least halfway decent. I have a few from the Fuji, shot on the camera tripod.

There was quite a few objects neighboring the Moon, so I thought it would make a decent shot when the Moon darkened.












I still have the pics from the Canon to go through. I took a look at a few, and they seem to be a bit out of focus. But, oh well. New scope, new camera, still learning. I'll sort out some decent ones to put up. If I can find any.

Just counted all the shots, 436 all together. Hmm, seemed like a lot more when I was shooting them.

[katodog]

A few more, from the Megrez/Canon 10D, prime focus...

[Centaur]

Here’s a photo I captured of the lunar eclipse two minutes after maximum totality. It was taken from Arlington Heights, Illinois on 2008 FEB 20 at 21:28 CST. Saturn is toward the lower left and Regulus near the top. A reddish hue is apparent on the Moon. Even though the eclipse was in totality, the lower right limb of the Moon appears brightened because as viewed from that region the Sun would have been barely hidden by the Earth. The coloration and brightening were enhanced by the 0.4 second exposure and F/2.4 aperture.

[Centaur]

Often, weatherman Tom Skilling of Chicago’s WGN-TV will display my astronomical or meteorological photos. But he took off the last couple of days and could not see my eclipse picture. Then today weatherman Mike Caplan of Chicago’s WLS-TV became a newbie at Astronomy.com and replied within a similar eclipse thread I initiated there. He used the nickname “wlsweather”. I told him he was free to use my eclipse picture during his weathercast, and he did so about an hour ago. After that he predicted a weekend heat wave in the thirties for Chicago. Wow! I then advised him that the Chicago Astronomer is the best site for local enthusiasts. Let’s all give him a hearty welcome if he comes onboard. We astronomers need as many weathermen as possible on our side.

[Samie]

I'm digging those shot centaur. Do you have any photos of your camera and lenses?
I stopped by millenium park to see the spectacle. Thankfully it wasn't cloudy!

[Centaur]

sam said:

I'm digging those shot centaur. Do you have any photos of your camera and lenses?
I stopped by millenium park to see the spectacle. Thankfully it wasn't cloudy!

Thanks, Samie. I'm glad you were able to enjoy the eclipse. Here's a link to pictures of my camera and its lens: www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_f717-review/

Please note that I only placed one photo in this thread. Katodog is responsible for the rest of them.

[katodog]

Thanks for the honorable mention, Centaur. You always put up some decent shots. But, for the eclipse shot, you're missing something. Where's the church steeple???

That's a pretty cool looking camera. It looks big, is it too heavy to put on a scope? Interesting pivot feature, too. I just got a Canon 10D and have been playing with it non-stop. I'm hoping that I don't wear it out before I get to try some DSOs in the scope with it. Hopefully, I'll be able to try it out on M42 without waiting too long for a clear sky. I should have aligned Wednesday and stayed up later, but it was hard enough to stay out for the eclipse. I don't like cold weather. The only problem is that the Megrez is new, so I'm still playing around with it, too. I haven't even put the Fuji on it yet, the Canon got the maiden voyage.

I uploaded some more eclipse shots onto my Photobucket account, at least the ones that I thought were worthy enough to show off. After seeing all the pics on Cloudy Nights, I can see that I might not have been as out of focus as I thought. A lot of the eclipse shots aren't as sharp as I thought they'd be. So, maybe I didn't goof up after all. It's pretty hard to get any detail out of a full Moon, and I guess that translates to eclipses, too.


More eclipse shots...


s15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/katodog/Lunar%20Eclipse/

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I am pleased on the pics taken by fellow Chicago Astronomers of the overall eclipse neighborhood. With my camera attached to a 5" refractor, I couldn't swap it out easily to grab sky or the large masses of visitors we had at the Adler.

Pics are coming in via email on other efforts and I'll post them soon. I think I'll try to make an animation as well.

astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Astrophotraphy&thread=1203621001&page=1

Excellent shots...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We welcome all meterologists and weather people to the Chicago Astronomer.

Congrats to Curt for the eclipse image mention and thanks for the Chicago Astronomer promo!

[Centaur]

katodog said:

Thanks for the honorable mention, Centaur. You always put up some decent shots. But, for the eclipse shot, you're missing something. Where's the church steeple???

That's a pretty cool looking camera. It looks big, is it too heavy to put on a scope? Interesting pivot feature, too. I just got a Canon 10D and have been playing with it non-stop. I'm hoping that I don't wear it out before I get to try some DSOs in the scope with it. Hopefully, I'll be able to try it out on M42 without waiting too long for a clear sky. I should have aligned Wednesday and stayed up later, but it was hard enough to stay out for the eclipse. I don't like cold weather. The only problem is that the Megrez is new, so I'm still playing around with it, too. I haven't even put the Fuji on it yet, the Canon got the maiden voyage.

I uploaded some more eclipse shots onto my Photobucket account, at least the ones that I thought were worthy enough to show off. After seeing all the pics on Cloudy Nights, I can see that I might not have been as out of focus as I thought. A lot of the eclipse shots aren't as sharp as I thought they'd be. So, maybe I didn't goof up after all. It's pretty hard to get any detail out of a full Moon, and I guess that translates to eclipses, too.

Those are great shots, Katodog. Thanks for sharing.

I don't currently have a telescope; I just use the camera and its 5 power zoom lens. I take my Moon pictures from atop a five-level parking garage. It's only when I'm facing west-northwest that the steeple is seen. It's actually two blocks away, but appears closer due to the telephoto lens.

I dislike the cold too. I only stayed outside a few minutes on Wednesday evening before my fingers on the camera started feeling frostbitten.

Yes, a Full Moon is going to appear flat even when eclipsed. The Sun needs to be off to the side for the shadowing to bring out terrain detail.

[Centaur]

admin said:

We welcome all meterologists and weather people to the Chicago Astronomer.

Congrats to Curt for the eclipse image mention and thanks for the Chicago Astronomer promo!

Thanks and you're welcome. That’s a really nice eclipse sequence, Joe. You should be proud.

I had mentioned your Adler event and website at several message boards. My eclipse thread at astronomy.com had over 8000 hits. I created another thread on that site specifically to announce your Adler gathering and it had over 1200 hits. Other sites produced large numbers of hits, although not quite as many. The combined total was around 30,000.

[katodog]

I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion that I wasn't too badly focused, since a lot of the other pics I've seen looked the same. I guess it's just one of those things where you either get focus snapped in or you don't. But, I'm still happy with what I shot.

I originally wasn't planning on viewing the eclipse, maybe just popping my head out to see it every 10-15 minutes. But, when I went out and saw that it started, I got the "Junkie Jones" and had to go out. I didn't mind the cold. I bundled up pretty good. But, I was trying to run the two cameras and kept taking my gloves off, so I stuck hand warmers in my pockets. Which didn't make much difference since I didn't put my hands in my pockets very much.


Centaur, you say you don't have a scope, are you looking for one? The reason I ask is that I have a 12" Celestron Starhopper Dobsonian sitting in my garage if you'd be interested. I'd say it's just collecting dust, but it can't since it stays covered. It's in excellent shape, and gives some really awesome views. I've been trying to sell it off now since December.

If you're interested, drop me a PM. Maybe we can make a deal.

[Centaur]

katodog said:

I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion that I wasn't too badly focused, since a lot of the other pics I've seen looked the same. I guess it's just one of those things where you either get focus snapped in or you don't. But, I'm still happy with what I shot.

I originally wasn't planning on viewing the eclipse, maybe just popping my head out to see it every 10-15 minutes. But, when I went out and saw that it started, I got the "Junkie Jones" and had to go out. I didn't mind the cold. I bundled up pretty good. But, I was trying to run the two cameras and kept taking my gloves off, so I stuck hand warmers in my pockets. Which didn't make much difference since I didn't put my hands in my pockets very much.


Centaur, you say you don't have a scope, are you looking for one? The reason I ask is that I have a 12" Celestron Starhopper Dobsonian sitting in my garage if you'd be interested. I'd say it's just collecting dust, but it can't since it stays covered. It's in excellent shape, and gives some really awesome views. I've been trying to sell it off now since December.

If you're interested, drop me a PM. Maybe we can make a deal.

Full Moons are gorgeous to the naked eye, but as I noted above the direct angle of the lighting leads to a flat image in a telescope. Half Moons (quarter positions) present the most detail.

On Wednesday night I only planned to be out ten minutes and that was too much for my fingers.

Thanks for the offer, Katodog, but I'm not in the market for such a thing. I may get something compact in the spring. I'm sure someone would love it though. Try the Shop and Swap forum at the Cloudy Nights message board: www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/Classifieds

[katodog]

Thanks, Curt. I've had it on CN since December, off and on. I thought I had a local buyer, but I'm still not sure yet. I was planning to ship it to a guy who was interested in it, but that proved to be quite a task, and I had to back out.

That's cool, though, can't hurt to ask.


Clear Skies to you. Ed