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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Total Lunar Eclipse with the Chicago Astronomer

Sunday 27th/28th September 2015

Join the Chicago Astronomer crew Sunday evening and enjoy a great Harvest Moon Total Lunar Eclipse by the lake...at a reasonable time for once!

Chicago will experience a full Total eclipse from beginning to end (a rare treat)...the schedule of event is as follows...

The Chicago Astronomers will arrive on-site by 5:30 pm to set-up equipment on the "EAST" side of the Adler Planetarium building - NOT at our usual site by Solidarity Dr.  This is to gain a great unobstructed vista of the eclipse event over the lake.  You can find us by seeking out the red flashing lights.

I will have the C11 Scope as the main instrument for direct viewing.  The C102mm Refractor will be reserved for the Canon T5i DSLR and the Orion 80mm Short tube refractor will be reserved for a direct video connection to the Toshiba Tablet for crowds to take pictures ....




The public will not be allowed to attempt cell phone capture through the main scope, as this holds up the line of anxious Moon gazers.  The tablet will allow many to enjoy the magnified Moon in eclipse at the same time.

We will maintain our observation site certainly until after totality and may remain till the very end at 12:33 am Monday morning.  There will be thousands of spectators at this event and parking will be tough.  It is recommended to use public transportation or other means of arriving at the Adler.


NOTE:  The weather forecast is getting iffy, calling for clouds during the time of the eclipse event.  We will be there, even if cloudy...but rain will cancel the Chicago Astronomer participation.

Let's hope for clear skies and a great Total Lunar Eclipse......

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Thanks Curt!

[Centaur]

Sept 27, 2015 9:50:40 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Thanks Curt!

You're welcome, Joe.

Some of my eclipse timing predictions are slightly different from what NASA publishes. The NASA graphics with data were drawn in advance by Fred Espenak years ago, and he is now retired. He conceded to me in a Sky & Telescope discussion about the 2015 April lunar eclipse that his calculations assumed a perfectly spherical Earth, and that my calculations may be more accurate. Ditto for my Belgian friend and eclipse guru Jean Meeus.

I take into account Earth's oblate shape, and unlike Espenak and Meeus, for eclipse calculations I employ the ultra-accurate solar and lunar positions in the Solex numerical integration program written by my Italian friend Aldo Vitagliano. That explains my predicting that the 2015 April lunar eclipse would be partial, while Espenak and Meeus and those who rely on them predicted it would be total. Observation reports tended to support my conclusion.

Let's hope there are at least occasional clearings in the sky for us tonight. Verifications of my timing predictions would be appreciated. Observers should be aware that the penumbral phases are only noticeable when the Moon is close to the umbra.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

LUNAR ECLIPSE UPDATE:

As I post this, the Chicago skies are socked in with heavy overcast, but the event starts in 3 hours and it may thin out according to Chicago Weather...



We have sucker holes in the region and that clearing edge may slide over by totality...



Zooming out to the region...we have clearing tantalizing close...



We can only wait and hope for semi-clear skies.

Either way, the Chicago Astronomer crew will be on-site by the Adler area to test out gear and meet fans, talk astronomy and enjoy time by the lake....and maybe we'll get an eclipse out of it too...!

[Paulie pchris00]

Haven't seen any of the eclipse in South Bend. This was my best picture, at 7:50 PM CDST (8:50 PM EDST), before the Moon entered the umbra. Luna has been eclipsed by clouds since 8:00 PM CDST (9:00 PM EDST).

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[Paulie pchris00]

The only eclipse visible in South Bend today.

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[Paulie pchris00]

I got a few seconds of partial at 10:56 CDST! Not long enough to get a picture.

[Paulie pchris00]

That was cutting it close! Had a few seconds of partial eclipse between 10:56- 10:57 PM CDST, but never long enough to get a picture. Finally just before the end of umbral eclipse, snapped this shot at 11:23:20 PM CDST though the clouds. Still looks like some penumbral darking in the Mare Crisium region, but so hard to tell with the clouds.

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[John]

What a great time I had watching the last eclipse of this tetrad with so many of my friends, Adler staff, and about 1000 of our closest buddies in Chicagoland ...
It's always a treat to see my Chicago Astronomer friends; a far too rare treat. The temperature was fine, the clouds weren't as bad as "usual" for a lunar eclipse, and there were plenty of friendly, eager minds drinking in a little science to go along with the main course of celestial beauty.

[Vinod Kumar]

Thanks dear for such an informative post.