Observing and Imaging Logs
This is a selection of observing logs taken at club meetings or
our ad-hoc 'Observing Workshop' series.
Lunar Eclipse 3, March 2007
by Nick Tonkin. With photographic submissions by Glynn
Bennallick, Frank Johns, Mike Thompson, and Phil Brotherwood
Actual visible astronomical events are few and far between down
here on Cornwall. In fact I had to press the button marked
'Observing' on the website to find when we last had one...That was
the actually clouded out as well, and I had to go back all the way to
2004 to find one that was successful.
So it was on the evening of the 3rd of March that a number of
club members prepared themselves for another cloud-out event.
Brian (Sheen) hosted the evening at our old stomping ground
at Court Farm. I arrived to find the Updated 'Grotty Old Shed' packed to
the gills with interested and enthusiastic members of the General
Public .......and Phil. A crystal clear night sky it was not, but
the full Moon managed to shine its way through a thin blanket of
high cloud.
While Brian continued to woo the visitors with a slide show on
what they could expect to see later in the evening, Phil and I set
up his ETX 90 beside the new Solar Workshop. After a bit of
fiddling we managed to get it 2 star aligned, and set it up with Phil's
new Canon D400. By this time I was beginning to think that
this was going to be it for the Brannel contingent, but soon after
8:30 various club members emerged 'From out of the gloom' and proceeded
to set up their gear.
Mike was the first, who was soon followed by Brian (Burt) and
Cathy, Mrs Mike, Abie and Andrew...and Yes...even Welly
braved the elements and armed with his
digital camera and tripod. As well as those who travelled to Court Farm, two other
members, namely Glynn and Frank, imaged the event from their own their own
observatories.
By 9:30, Brian had concluded his pre-event briefing, and the
visitors headed outside to join us. At one point there must have
been at least 35 people standing there, waiting patiently for the spectacle
to begin. It appeared that nothing was happening at first, but one
by one murmurs of ' I think I can see the shadow now' started, and
we were off. Those with cameras, started to
take their pictures and those who didn't spent their time looking
through scopes or binoculars as the Earths shadow slowly marched
its way across the surface of the Moon.
Those taking photographs were finding that as time progressed
that their exposures which started in the 1/350 sec range, now had
to increase it to 1/125 and then 1/60. By the time the full
eclipse occurred, some were in the 8 to 30 second exposure range.
I found the whole experience rather awe inspiring. My own impressions of the
terminator was that it was very soft and ill defined to start
with, but as time went on, the contrast between each side of the
terminator, became more pronounced. Once the colour started
to appear the Moon took on a eerie
copper/salmony pink snowball-like appearance. Once totality had
been reached, the clouds could hold on no longer, and slowly but
surely, thickened up obscuring the view and drawing the curtain on
the evenings performance.
By midnight many had started to drift away, not waiting for the
second half. However, it was a wonderful event to have witnessed -
even with the high cloud. I'm sure many will remember the
evening for many years to come - which is just as well, because
between now and 2015, there will only be one more full Lunar
Eclipse in 2008.
I would like to thank Brian( Sheen) on behalf of all of us that
attended, for putting on a splendid event for us....
If it wasn't for the total absence of Sheep Poo, we could have
been time warped back to the 'Good Old Days' when we used to do
stuff like standing outside in the cold looking at things.
So now for the piccys. For a full sized image just click any of the
thumbnails below.
Partial Solar Eclipse 3, October 2005
The morning of the 3rd, started at 6pm with the arrival and
setting up of our scopes at The Cornwall Outdoors Centre at
Portpean. With the successful Venus transit last year, hopes were high
that we would have a repeat performance. However, the forecasts
over the previous week giving us clear skies all day on that
Monday, reverted to the Cornish norm, and we were greeted
with a some lovely opaque cloud when the sun came up.
 
By early morning, the revelers had started to arrive, and with
them, very occasional glimpses of a patch of blue sky. But
you had to be an eternal optimist to read anything but
continual cloud cover for the rest of the day.
 
Brian brought half his house with him, including his
biggest piece of kit seen so far, an Solar projection system. The
only use it got that day was a 'Well if the Sun was shining' demonstration
of how it worked to a coach load of teenagers from a nearby
School.
To Brian's credit though, more than half the Cornish press did turn
up. Radio Cornwall,
Pirate FM, and the TV, to all of who Brian explained what was
happening, and made the total non-event, sound exciting. The TV
crew spent 10 minutes filming Paul slewing the Tak on its mount,
and capturing the bald patch on the top of my head whilst doing
so.
By mid morning, the laptop had graphically shown the Eclipse
had been and gone, so we helped Brian pack up his gear, and headed
back home to catch up on some well deserved sleep.
Observing Logs for 2004
Observing Logs for 2003
Principal Club Contacts
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