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(meteorobs) Eclipse and reflections...
Guys -
This is a cross-posting from our RASC net. Thought his experiences were rather unique... There are indeed
some places in Canada without snow at the moment! Not here, we are expecting another 10 cm. of snow
tomorrow....
It was fairly mild last night, only about -15C (5F), so comet and eclipse viewing were actually quite pleasant.
I didn't manage any photos of the comet reflected in the water though - my comet floats above a very frozen
Ottawa River.... and I had to plod my way through snowdrifts in my Sorel boots and down parka to take the
photos....
Looking forward to warmth and spring...
- Cathy
Great White North
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: Alan Whitman, INTERNET:awhitman@vipdot net
DATE: 3/24/97 1:01 PM
RE: RASC List: Eclipse
Wasn't that a beautiful eclipse? The shadow was a very light orange with
some yellow and a blue-grey rim, perhaps the brightest umbral shadow that
I've seen. Tycho and even its rays were clearly visible deep in the shadow
even at mid-eclipse.
I estimated that the rim of the moon that was only shaded by penumbral
shadow was about mag -5 or similar to Venus in a dark sky. All of the total
lunar eclipses that I've seen in the last three decades have been during
twilight (or through clouds) so it was very interesting to watch the stars
and Milky Way come out and the great comet's tails lengthen.
I could only trace the tails to 11 degrees each because both went into both
the Cassiopea Milky Way and the light dome from Penticton (maybe I should
have waited until after the Great Comet of 1997 to make sure that most of
the Okanagan's light pollution was confined to my northern sky). The dust
tail shows only a very slight curvature now and it has also narrowed
greatly--it is now the same width as the gas tail. I strolled down to Skaha
Lake at mid-eclipse to look at the tails sans trees and saw that the comet
and several degrees of tail were reflected brightly in the still waters. In
the January Sky&Tel John Bortle made a thing about how the Great March [!]
Comet of 1843 "became so bright after perihelion that its reflection could
be seen in the sea". But I don't think that it is as big a deal as he thinks
because not only the comet's reflection could be seen but also the adjacent
2nd and 3rd magnitude stars', even ones as faint as Alpha (mag 3.4) and Beta
Trianguli and Mu Andromedae.
I put on a little 'eclipse and comet and constellations' public viewing
session for the neighborhood (subtly collecting allies for the day when
someone wants to 'improve' the subdivision with streetlights).
Alan Whitman
RR 1, Site 39, Comp 17,
Okanagan Falls, British Columbia
V0H 1R0
Ph 250-497-6759