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Partial Solar Eclipse – October 23, 2014

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Slightly off topic from the regular fare, but firmly in the ‘cool science stuff’ category.

Photo of the partial eclipse this afternoon, taken in front of our house, with massive sunspot region 12192 visible near center:

Partial Solar Eclipse October 23, 2014
Partial Solar Eclipse
October 23, 2014

Equipment: Panasonic DMC-ZS3 with a Starmax 127EQ telescope and solar filter.  Also required: patience.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, but it was a bit of a pain to get a good shot.  I think I’ll need to buy a decent camera mount soon . . .

Comments
Eric:
Alan, if you click on the picture, it pulls up the high-resolution version.
So obvious a five year old child would have done this. Unfortunately, I overlooked sending out for a five year old child! :) Anyway we Europeans have only to wait till next March for a solar eclipse that will be almost total in Norway, Scotland and Ireland and still be over 50% where I live.Alan Fox
October 26, 2014
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For folks who will be in the US on 21 Aug 2017, there will be a total solar eclipse that will be worth traveling to see. Here's a Google map showing the path.keith s
October 25, 2014
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Also great pics, Eugen!rich
October 25, 2014
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Eric, I appreciate your effort of promoting science to young people. I'm sure they will remember some of it and maybe it will influence them later when choosing higher education. I'm not organized well so we do it occasionally and spontaneously. One event couple of years ago, Venus transit, turned into a street party. I highly recommend this simple educational walk. http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html I did the walk with my kids and few neighbors. Everyone was amazed! Mostly me. I don't understand why atheists usurp science and think we don't appreciate it.Eugen
October 25, 2014
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Thanks, everyone. Alan, if you click on the picture, it pulls up the high-resolution version. Eugen, good shot. I'm glad you were able to get the neighbors involved, particularly if some young ones joined you. Planting seeds for the next generation, if you will. We had two neighbor girls come over with their mom to take a look; I'm guessing ages 6 and 4. They won't remember any of the details about the sunspot or the moon in front of the sun being the cause of the black crescent, but I'm convinced they'll remember looking through the telescope with their mom and the "ooh's" and "ahh's" they experienced. Hopefully planted a small seed that will spark an interest in science and technology later in life . . . Thanks to the Mrs. being a great organizer and volunteer-for-everything kind of gal (much better than I), we organized an Astronomy Night for the local grade school (several hundred kids) several years ago. We ran that for, I think, three years and then it kind of petered out when our kids got older and moved on to middle school. I don't know how much the school kids will remember, but hopefully they'll remember the projects they worked on, the moon rocks they got to see, the model Mars Rover, or the rings of Saturn they saw through the telescopes. These are some of the out-of-the-classroom, hands-on kind of experiences that are so needed in our sit-in-front-of-the-screen world the kids are growing up in. Anyway, it isn't much, but if we keep our eyes open there are small opportunities like this around that hopefully make a difference . . . /soapboxEric Anderson
October 25, 2014
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Alan Fox: There is one very good today on APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.htmlgpuccio
October 25, 2014
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Great work Eric Anderson! I went out with my kids and we took some pictures with my 130mm reflector and Kendrick solar filter. Even neighbors joined us taking a look. http://i61.tinypic.com/10opt1g.jpgEugen
October 25, 2014
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That is impressive Eric. Any chance of a higher resolution pic?Alan Fox
October 24, 2014
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rich forgot to ask for the CSI calculation. lame.Mung
October 24, 2014
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Rained out here, missed itJoe
October 24, 2014
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That is AWESOME. Great job -keep the pics coming.rich
October 23, 2014
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