Partial Solar Eclipse - October 23, 2014

Pre-Eclipse Test Image showing Huge Sunspot Group

Partial Solar Eclipse of October 23, 2014. After days of analysis and agonizing over whether to stage a public event or go out on my own, I decided to be a spectator myself and try and get some good images. From where? I decided to use fishing pier located in Avon Lake, Ohio to observe the sunset partial solar eclipse. I was hoping to get images of the eclipsing sun sinking colorfully on the western horizon, reflecting dreamily in Lake Erie waters. When I arrived there were few people around but I saw a line of cars arriving at the parking lot. I hustled my equipment down to the pier and staked out a corner so as to be out of the way.

A Portion of the Fishing Pier Crowd Watching the Eclipse

Soon the pier was packed and, at the expected time, I spotted the dark edge of the Moon encroaching upon the Sun's bright disk. I shouted to the crowd, "It has started!" Folks quickly faced sunward and, holding their sun-safe viewers, looked and agreed... "Look! I can see it!" I was shooting with a 400mm telephoto lens mounted to a 2X lens extender on a cropped-sensor camera giving me about 1000mm of telescopic goodness. I'd tried the combo out earlier in the day and got very good results.

Dark Disk of Moon Encroaching Upon Cloud-Streaked Sun

The evening's seeing, however, wasn't as good as that of midday; the Sun was low in the sky (more atmosphere), there was a fairly stiff breeze (vibration and atmospheric turbulence), and there were thin clouds. Still, while not as sharp as I'd have liked, the presence of a huge sunspot group and some cloud effects along with the eclipse made for dramatic images.

Eclipsing Sun Sinks into Lake Clouds Ending our Day

The eclipsing Sun sank into lake clouds before giving us sunset colors but I didn't regret staying til the (cold) end. As eclipse watchers started heading home, someone asked if they could see my images, review them in the camera's tiny LCD panel. I obliged and soon collected a little crowd. Some had arrived late and hadn't seen any of the event. It was heartening to have seen the excitement of fellow viewers and to have shared the wonder of this partial solar eclipse with them.

Open Night at Stephens: May 24

Some 45 visitors of all ages came out to observe through our telescope on this clear Saturday night with good seeing! While many may have been drawn by the opportunity to see Mars, sadly the minuscule Red Planet put in a poor showing compared with last month's. Mars and Earth are rapidly parting company and the extra distance, plus only "good" seeing conditions disappointed. Those who stayed a bit longer, however, enjoyed very good views of Saturn with several of its moons. Traces of color banding in Saturn's atmosphere were visible and the Cassini Division could clearly be seen; the planet's tilt displayed the rings excellently. We were one week from Saturn opposition which also helped! Finally we viewed the globular star cluster M13 in Hercules and it was a grand sight -- blue diamonds set on a field of white diamond dust -- the first time I've been able to show off that wonder through the vintage scope!

Open Night: Mars beautiful, few see it

The night of April 26 was an Open Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory. Mars was the featured object along with a couple of star clusters, that moonless night. I feared a big crowd -- Mars can really pack 'em in -- but over the course of the night only eight visitors came. Those who did visit, however, had the best telescopic views of planet Mars that I have ever enjoyed! Seeing conditions were only "good" but Mars was at opposition only a little over a week earlier. Through the 9-inch refractor we could easily see shadowy forms on the surface of that tiny, distant world with a trace view of a polar ice cap. The seeing conditions worsened as the evening wore on and I could not find the star cluster promised (M3 - the "Beehive") to save my life! The visitors drifted away as we closed early due to increasing cloudiness. This night I wish we would have had many more visitors so that I could have shared the remarkable view!

Testing, testing...

In about two weeks (on Tuesday, April 15) there will be a total eclipse of the Moon, visible in its entirety across the continental U.S. It has been a long time since I've seen a great lunar eclipse but, if the weather cooperates, this should be a good one. As it happens, totality -- the deepest part of the eclipse -- will take place in the wee hours around 3:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time. It will be tough to stay awake for the whole show since I am firmly-imprinted with a daylight operating cycle but I'm excited at the prospect of seeing this eclipse. I decided to take advantage of the thin crescent Moon to get a little practice and some test shots of it with very little illumination. I used my tripod, Canon EOS 50D camera, and 400mm telephoto in my experiments and, by and large, am pleased with the results. (Shooting through thin clouds made it look like my lens was fogged up but it wasn't ... I checked!) In the photo the nighttime portion of the lunar disk is illuminated with bluish "Earthlight" and, along the brilliant terminator, we can see a rough edge caused by partially-lit craters. The eclipsed Moon will be floating in Earth's shadow and our planet's atmosphere will color the light reaching it. During totality our Moon should be tinted some shade of orange or red (it varies depending upon the content of our atmosphere) and will be very dark. For the eclipse I plan on setting up my six-inch Meade refractor and attaching a digital SLR camera directly to it, making it a 1,250mm telephoto lens! If this all works out (again, completely dependent upon the weather) I'll be exhausted but happy by the time dawn arrives that Tuesday.

Crescent Moon with Earthlight Image by James Guilford, April 1, 2014: Canon EOS 50D, ISO 800, f/5.6, .5-second, 400mm.