(Viewed 962 times)

[Centaur]

The partial solar eclipse of Thursday 2014 OCT 23 will be visible throughout almost all of North America including Chicagoland, weather permitting.

If you choose to view this event, be sure to have strong protection for your eyes. Ordinary sunglasses will be insufficient and would likely result in blindness. A pinhole projection would be preferable to other methods.

As viewed from Chicago's Adler Planetarium, the Moon will first appear to touch the right edge of the Sun at 16:36 CDT. At 17:43 the eclipse will achieve its greatest magnitude from that location of 55.2%, i.e. slightly more than half of the Sun’s diameter will appear covered by the Moon. From the planetarium the Sun will soon set at 17:57 while still eclipsed.

I've created a preview graphic to demonstrate how the Sun and Moon will appear at maximum eclipse to viewers at the Adler Planetarium. Venus will also appear nearby. Actually only a bite would appear taken from the Sun, but I rendered all of the dark side of the Moon to make the situation clear. The view and timings will be rather similar throughout Chicagoland. Elsewhere they can differ significantly.

My partial solar eclipse preview graphic can be found at CurtRenz.com/moon.html

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

[Centaur]

Right now the forecast for Chicagoland is for cloudy skies during this afternoon's eclipse. If that turns out to be correct, the eclipse can be seen through live video coverage at Slooh: live.slooh.com/stadium/live/highlight-partial-solar-eclipse-2014

Here's a link to my preview graphic of this afternoon's partial solar eclipse as viewed from Chicago: CurtRenz.com/moon.html

[-=CROMAN=-]

What time will the adler event be scrubbed if the weather does not cooperate?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Rich...

It will go on regardless of clouds or shine.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Ok. Ill see you there then

[Paulie pchris00]

I remember that in the summer of 1994 there was a solar eclipse, and I watched parts of it with welder's glass. Since then, though, I have not seen any part of a solar eclipse. From Northwest Indiana, the partial solar eclipse we experienced on October 23 wasn't going to be a spectacular event, with only about half the Sun being eclipse at maximum, and the Sun setting shortly after maximum eclipse. Still, I was looking forward to it, and when the forecast was mostly cloudy, with a possibility of rain, I wasn't very optimistic.

When I got home from work Thursday morning, I needed to take a nap. I wanted to wake up early so I could check weather forecasts around the region, and check satellite images to see where the best chance of a clear sky might be. I set a couple of alarms on my phone, went to sleep, and then slept through nearly two hours of my phone going off every five minutes.

When I finally woke up, it was after 3:30 PM, and the eclipse was going to start in about an hour. I hurried to get ready, but with so little time, the only observation I could get to in time was at Valparaiso University. I arrived at the V.U. observatory around 4:20, with about 15 minutes to spare. Professors Dr. Bruce Hrivnak and Dr. Todd Hillwig were set up behind the observatory, and ready to host a public observation. There were some eager visitors already there, but the sky was still cloudy. Dr. Hrivnak's wife Lucy arrived a few minutes after me, and like me, she really wasn't expecting to see much either. Then the Sun started to peek through a clearing in the clouds that was opening up.

I hadn't bothered getting any equipment out of my car because of the cloudy conditions, so I hurried to get my 60mm refractor that I use for solar observing and Sun funnel screen. The funnel screen hadn't been used in a long time, and the black electrical tape holding the screen in place was worn, and needed to be replaced. At some point it had come undone, and left a black mark across the observing screen, but there was no time to properly clean it. I hastily re-taped the screen in place. There wasn't enough time to get it nice and tight across the top of the funnel, but would do for this observation, which might not last long.




Not ideal conditions, but I was able to observe the beginning of the eclipse through the clouds to the west.


Finally ready to observe, I found the Sun by using the shadow method, and was impressed by the massive sunspot A.R. 2192. Lucy Hrivnak gave me a pair of eclipse glasses, and I was surprised that sunspot 2192 could be seen even without magnification. A small crowd started to gather around my telescope for a look at our Sun. Then I saw a slight impression on the solar limb, and the eclipse had begun.




First eclipse image on the Sun funnel screen.


Like me, Dr. Hrivnak was using a small spotting scope to safely project an image of the eclipsed Sun, while Dr. Hillwig had a full aperture solar filter on a 6" SCT. Of course, they were also handing out eclipse glasses to anybody who wished to see the eclipse. But like I found out during the Transit of Venus, people really seemed to enjoy the funnel projection screen. The fairly large image on the screen and being able to observe in a group makes this a popular method for observing any solar event. It also attracted the attention of Heather Augustyn of the Times of Northwest Indiana. Heather interviewed me, and a Times photographer got a shot of me demonstrating the funnel projection system. Both the image and interview were included in the online article, and in Friday's newspaper.


www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valparaiso/article_5ccd38c0-268c-586e-a587-d593f2fb3aeb.html




Small crowd observing the solar eclipse behind Valparaiso University's campus observatory.







I watched as a small sunspot near the solar limb was eclipsed by the Moon, but didn't time the moment of occultation. I was just trying to enjoy whatever time remained of the Sun peeking through the clouds. Right around 5:00 PM CDST, the Sun started to disappear behind clouds again, and it looked like the end of the observation. I left my telescope set up just in case, but took a few moments to document the crowd, the sky conditions, and posed for a picture with professors Hrivnak and Hillwig. From that point all telescopic observing was over. The Sun did show through the clouds briefly around 5:30, but it was very low in the sky, and the sunlight wasn't strong enough to cast shadows for aligning my telescope. I could sort of make out the outline of the Moon through eclipse glasses, but clouds were also obscuring the solar disk, making it hard to tell just how much of the Sun was eclipsed by our Moon.




Final eclipse image on the Sun funnel. Giant sunspot 2192 is clearly visible.




Professor Todd Hillwig oversees eclipse observing through a full aperture filtered SCT, while behind him, professor Bruce Hrivnak is projecting an image of the eclipse through a small spotting scope.




Though still in progress, clouds cut short serious eclipse observing.






Posing with professors Hillwig and Hrivnak, and one of their friends.








Do these eclipse glasses make me look cool?





Even before the Sun had set, I packed my gear, signed the observatory's guest book, and said goodbye to the Hrivnaks and Dr. Hilllwig. As I left the campus, and turned west onto U.S. 30, the Sun was just above the horizon, and just below the clouds gathered in that direction. I could easily see the eclipse still in progress, and pulled over to try to get a picture. The settings on my cell phone just aren't up to getting images of the Sun, even while almost half eclipsed.






Trying to get final images of the partially eclipsed Sun, but they did not capture what I saw naked eye.


Even though it turned out mostly cloudy, and I almost missed the eclipse by oversleeping, I seem to have seen more total minutes of eclipse than others in the region. I enjoyed it while I could, and look forward to a trip south in August 2017 to stand in Luna's shadow.