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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Partial Solar Eclipse with the Chicago Astronomer

Thursday - 23 October 2014

Thursday, the 23rd of October, we will experience a partial solar eclipse of the 2014 year and this time, two weeks after the total lunar eclipse,  the celestial event will be observable for most of North America...with Chicago catching 55% of the solar disk hidden by the Moon.

I will join forces with the Adler Planetarium and set-up equipment to observe, image and share this event, with equipment just west of the Adler building...along with my fellow Adler Telescope crew, there will be plenty of telescopes to peer through.  We expect hundreds of visitors to make their way to the area and meet - many Chicago Astronomer fans and friends.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us, (forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies and rain later... ) 

I will have on hand the C11 beast and the C102mm Refractor riding on top - both with full aperture Baader solar filters.  And also, on extended loan....the Coronado H-Alpha Solar Scope.  A safe trio of solar instruments!





The event starts at 4:36 pm with the Sun at a paltry 12 degree high, (a closed fist held at arms length is 10 degrees).  Pretty low to start...and it'll get lower fast.  At maximum totality at 5:43 pm, the Sun/Moon duo will only be 2 degrees in altitude...most certainly lost behind trees and building in the city...but leading up to this, could make for some nice photo ops.

The eclipse is over at 6:44 pm, but it will be well below our horizon and lost to Chicago area observers.

Note:

Solar observing can be dangerous if not careful.  Use only proper solar observing equipment or just hang out with me and share an afternoon together of safe looking at the Sun.  I also have a limited amount of safe solar glasses to distribute to our regular Chicago Astronomer fans...

Monster sunspot AR 2129 is presently making a grand showing on the Earthside of the solar surface...and could be in a opportunistic position for some great solar imaging as the lunar limb makes its way across the Sun's face.

Check out Chicago Astronomer Curt's eclipse data here with good data on the event:
Chicago Astronomer Curt

See all good skylovers out there for this first half of the lunar/solar tetrad sequence....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A wonderful two minute window of the eclipse....

Full pics in a bit, but we had a great small window where the clouds parted and the in progress event displayed itself in all of it's
glory...

Full pics and narative shortly.....

[-=CROMAN=-]

[-=CROMAN=-]

[-=CROMAN=-]

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Two minutes of Glorious Eclipse

23 October 2014

The weather did not look promising as we set-up just west of the Adler Planetarium at our regular Chicago Astronomer site, while the rest of the Adler crew set-up north of the building, next to the Sundial.

Chicago Astronomers Carlos & Regina and Rich brought their gear to this event, Rich with his urber portable table-top reflector and using the projection method, while Carlos brought along his Refractor on an iOptron mount...

I had the trusty C11 and C102mm Refractor at the ready with full aperture Baader solar filters....but fro the start of the event around 4:30 pm...the clouds were not cooperating...




Through the heavy clouds, there were moments when they thinned out enough to catch some indication that an eclipse was in progress...

Visitors were gathering, but it didn't look good.  We talk and chat about eclipse mechanics, but some clarifications:

• No, telescopes cannot see through clouds
  
  No, we cannot see this later at night
  
  No, this does not happen every month
  
  No, nothing is wrong with the telescope, that black circle is the Moon 
  
  Why are telescopes here?   There is an eclipse going on

      Can I hook up my camera to your scope?  Uhm, no
   
      I heard the Adler is showing the eclipse live, (from Griffith observatory live feed).  Where's your monitor?   Inside the               museum.

      Can I see the eclipse after it sets?  Uh, no.    Go inside and catch on the live feed.     "Whut?"

• 
  

But...as the Sun/Moon duo raced to our skyline...the clouds parted and for two minutes...we were in full awe of this partial solar eclipse.  I had the Canon T5i permanently on the C102 Refractor and allowed the public to peer through the C11 main scope...and they were not disappointed...

Visually, the view was stunning, one could easily make out the mountains and valleys along the edge of the lunar limb.


Behemoth Sunspot AR 2129 made for added interest to the solar disk.  People started to line up, desiring to grab a peek and take a pic.  (People...I'll allow a brief few seconds for you to attempt to take a pic with your cell phones, but not if you are spending time trying to find the eyepiece and then using a flash....people are waiting for a glimpse at this fleeting moment.  Word was getting out that I had views of the event and more people gathered, but two minutes go by quickly and before you knew it...the clouds rolled back in and the Sun/Moon duo dived behind the skyline.

I made the announcement... that the event, (although still going on), was over for us here at this location in the city.  Some kept coming up to the eyepiece, and stating that they could not see anything.  I explained the situation,  but....    The best opportunities for visitors who missed the event, was to review the best eclipse shot on my Canon and allow them to photograph it, which many did indeed do as we discussed the mechanics driving the event...

I ventured over to the Adler site and said hello to fellow Telescope facilitators and astro pals...

Although we were clouded out for most of the event, those two minutes were wonderful.  Meeting fans and sharing this event made it all worth it.  Now, for our next Lunar eclipse in the spring of 2015...!


Friends and fans of the Chicago Astronomer gather for a group shot on this eclipse afternoon...

[Paulie pchris00]

Glad you got to see even a little bit of this eclipse. You got some really nice images with the city skyline.

I also had mostly cloudy conditions, but had a clear window from just before the eclipse started, and lasted for over twenty minutes. There were a few sucker holes later, but nothing great. I hope to have some time in the next few days to write up and post my both of my eclipse experiences this month.

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