[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: (meteorobs) (Fwd) Eclipse/Perth Road

    Despite a broken-to-overcast layer of high and middle-level cloud cover, 
I was able to get some good views of last night's/this morning's total lunar 
eclipse from my home in Levittown, Long Island, NY.  The storm that produced 
a rather modest (1.5 inch) snowfall during the day on Thursday, moved just 
far enough out to sea to allow the skuddy low overcast that prevailed for 
much of the daylight hours to gradually thin-out during the early evening.  
The full Moon began to appear shortly after 7:30 p.m. EST as a bright, 
diffuse ball of light about halfway up in the eastern sky.  By 9 p.m. EST, it 
was still rather diffuse, but the lunar maria was now becoming evident enough 
to recognize with the naked-eye.  At 9:45 p.m., as I headed into my garage to 
haul out my 10.1" Dob, I could readily see the smudge of penumbral shadow 
across the Moon's left rim.

    The skies from first umbral contact (10:01 p.m. EST) right on through the 
end of totality (12:22 a.m. EST) were certainly not the best for eclipse 
viewing.  Much of the time, the disk of the Moon appeared rather soft and 
diffuse, thanks to the prevailing mid-to-high cloud cover.  In addition, some 
lower clouds would pass on by nearly obscuring the view entirely.  
Nonetheless, despite these handicaps it was obvious as the eclipse progressed 
that this was going to be an unusually bright one.  The eclipsed portion of 
the Moon was readily visible both with the naked eye and binoculars through 
the waxing partial stages; the umbra has no discernable color until just 
after it had reached about halfway across the Moon's disk.  Then a very faint 
reddish coloration began to appear.  At 11 p.m. EST - roughly four minutes 
before the start of the total eclipse - much of the umbral shadow was glowing 
distinctly orange in color.

    This was my tenth total lunar eclipse and likely this was the brightest 
of the ten.  I say this only because of the fact that there were times that 
the totally eclipsed Moon was always visible, even during those intervals 
when it was amidst a thicker layering of cloud cover.  There were other times 
when the clouds thinned enough to reveal a beautiful bright mottled copper 
red ball; the upper part of the Moon appearing a dark brown coloration while 
a bluish-white cap appeared on its lower rim.  It reminded me of two total 
eclipses from childhood:  April 1968 and February 1971.  And indeed, it was 
very different from the more recent total eclipse of December 1992 (which had 
a very dark, almost "sooty" appearance) and the total eclipse of November 
1993 (which was brighter, but yet lacked significant color).  Unfortunately, 
due to the unfavorable sky conditions, any Danjon estimates of the brightness 
of the eclipse perhaps would not have much in the way of validity.  Yet, I 
would strongly suspect that if I had a perfectly clear sky, this would have 
easily been an L = 3 eclipse . . . perhaps even approaching the top of the 
Danjon scale (L = 4).  

    At 12:05 a.m. EST, I was craning my neck, looking at the Moon as it 
crossed my southern meridian at an altitude of 69 degrees above the horizon.  
No total lunar eclipse had appeared as high as this one since January 7, 
1852!  Around this time, looking at the totally eclipsed Moon through 
binoculars held backwards as it shone through a layer of mid-level "schmutz" 
I estimated the Moon's magnitude at roughly 
-2 to -3.  Unfortunately, there were only three stars that I could use for 
comparison (Sirius, Procyon and Capella).  

    Soon after the Moon came out of totality, the clouds thinned out to a 
degree where, details appeared very clear and much sharper than at any other 
time previously.  Using the 10.1" at 45x, for instance, I could easily see 
the ray system of Tycho, as well as other prominent craters such as Grimaldi, 
Copernicus and Archimedes; most maria were also evident within the umbra as 
well.  The coppery coloration remained visible until 12:50 a.m. - especially 
when I placed the uneclipsed portion of the Moon outside the field of view.  
Lastly, I could see the inner portion of the penumbra as a dusky band 
bordering the umbra.  The penumbra had an apparent width of roughly one-third 
of a lunar diameter and had smoky brownish coloration.

    I halted my observations before the end of the umbral phase, soon after 1 
a.m. EST for two reasons:  First, a rather large cloud mass moved in from the 
west and likely would obscure the view of the Moon for quite some time 
thereafter.  Secondly, the northwest wind began to pick up noticeably around 
this time.  As there was a wind-chill advisory posted and the temperature was 
already hovering around 20 degrees (F.), I decided to call it a night, 
thankful for seeing as much as I did despite the passage only a few hours 
earlier of the first snowstorm of the 2000 winter season!                 

-- joe rao
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html