What an eclipse!

by Steven Caron, Stacy McDermott, Steve Sergeant, Dave North, Mark Wagner, Robert Baldwin, Richard Ozer, Gregory Edwards, Paul LeFevre, Akkana Peck, Rich Anderson, Art Perrin, James Turley, Bruce Anderson, Steve Gottlieb, Phil Chambers


Mon, 25 Dec 2000 08:16:24 -0800 (PST) Steven Caron
The perfect way to start Christmas morning! Beautifully, rising through the clouds, a bite was taken out the moon, as silhouettes of seagulls flew in front of the eclipsing sun.

Mary Christmas to all

08:21:07 Stacy McDermott
The wonderful eclipse is still going on as I write this. Didn't wake up in time to get to a higher position than where I am at my house, but I have great view. Stacy Contact happened at 7.40 am (as I slept through my alarm). What's incredible is the fact that along with the chunk of sun missing, there are some great solar spot groups to observe. At one point, the sun began to look like a Pacman! What a great way to start the day...best observing I've had in weeks.

Merry Christmas to all!

09:03:46 Steve Sergeant
[A superfluous "me too" post.]

Windy and cool, in the upper 40's, I watched the eclipse for about 30 minutes through a "orange" solar filter on my Orion Short-Tube 80, and a 10mm kellner. I first starting looking right at 8:21 AM PST -- the moment of maximum coverage.

Looking through a vertical streak of clouds slightly obstructing the sun, I saw the 10% coverage "bite" out of the sun, and some sunspots that were probably big enough to swallow the moon that was eating away at our view of the sun. (What an interesting conceptual conundrum that image presents!) The view, low on the horizon, was shimmering and boiling due to the shallow angle through the atmosphere, and probably more so due to the cloud I was looking through.

Great way to wake up on a holiday, I agree! This is also the only real observing I've got in this month.

Happy holiday to all!

09:06:44 Richard Ozer
I projected an image of the Sun using an old Nikon zoom lens I keep around for this purpose. I counted 18 sun spots and 1 flock of birds. Anyone else do any counting...

09:31:52 Dave North
We started just a few minutes before that (7:30 proved just too early after a longish xmas eve) with solarfiltered binos and an 8-inch with a baader aperture mask (about 85mm).

Same woofly seeing, but it was probably over 70 degrees -- felt too warm in the sun here in Burbank.

We got a last contact time of 9:13:40-50 ... anybody else check their watch?

09:32:36 Robert Baldwin
I watched the same seagulls from here. I thought the bite was taken out of the sun by the moon. I couldn't see the moon just the shadow of it on the sun. It ended 09:12:02 here in Redwood City. Enjoy your day!

09:36:15 Mark Wagner
Woke up at 8 today, realizing there was an eclipse. I didn't know when or how long it would last. Out into the backyard, on went some "solar sunglasses" and I could see something was askew with the sun. Into the house, got everyone up and out to the driveway for a clear view.

What a sight! X-Mas day and the sun and moon putting on a spectacle. I began to feel tingling while watching, only to realize I was barefoot on cold concrete. :-)

Merry X-Mas to all. Great group of people.

09:41:24 Gregory Edwards
It was chilly here in Half Moon Bay, except when watching the eclipse. The sunglasses in Astronomy worked better than I expected. It was a nice event.

Now if I could just get over this cold so I could go stargazing...

09:54:03 Paul LeFevre
Here's how I spent my Christmas morning:
http://www.slip.net/~lefevre/paulxmas.jpg

Santa was good in lots of ways. The morning was beautifully clear and steady for the eclipse, which got to about 18% here in Escondido, and ended at precisely 9:14:12 PST (didn't get to time start, since the sun was behind a neighbor's house). Actual eclipse pictures will follow when they're developed.

Santa was also good to me personally: a new 8mm Radian, a new 15mm Panoptic, a Meade 3.3 focal reducer, and a Magellan GPS. Lots of new fun toys to play with, and I can't wait to try them out!

Unfortunately, Santa hasn't delivered a baby yet...I'm beginning to think this little girl has her own plans about being the first baby of the REAL new millenium. I also think my wife is getting tired of me staring at her rather extended tummy and asking, "Is it time yet?" :) Any day now...

Whatever your beliefs or lack thereof, I hope you enjoyed this winter season of peace, goodwill, and joy. And best wishes for clear, dark skies in the new century/millenium soon to arrive!

10:15:12 Akkana Peck
We didn't see any seagulls, but a jet airplane flew across the sun's disk as I watched in the 8" and Dave watched in binoculars, together exclaiming "wow!" I added, "How does that jet fly upside down?" "Looked rightside up to me," Dave replied.

I liked the sunspot group that looked like the Cartwheel galaxy, a small central spot with a faint ring all the way around it.

...Akkana (yes, I know airplanes can fly inverted)

10:33:29 Rich Anderson
An excellent eclipse! I was sure I'd be cursed and Toronto would be socked in. It couldn't have been better! Clear with no haze at all, cold but with zero wind! I viewed the show through my Shortube 80mm while I shot pictures with my FS102. Everything seemed to co-operate, a truly great Christmas! Coverage got to about 60% and the ambient light faded a bit, but it was gradual. However, the sky blue (owing to the dimmer sun and complete lack of haze) was deeper than i've seen it here in a long time. I hope it stays for the night.

10:30:18 Art Perrin
Watched the Eclipse here in El Sobrante. Clear and cool, Beautiful site had the whole family out watching it thru the 8" with the solar filter on.

10:47:14 James Turley
I rushed out at at 9:13:50. A perfect round yellow ball of energy. Oh woe is me...I guess I was naughty and not nice all year.

Poor Jimmy

11:03:32 Bruce Anderson
What a beautiful eclipse!

At first I thought we were going to be stuck in the same morning fog we've had for the last two weeks, and then I didn't think the sun was going to get high enough for us to be able to see it from the backyard, but after manuevering around the yard with my scope, I managed to find an unobstructed view through the trees. Exposed a roll of Fujicolor at prime focus with the F2- maybe I'll get lucky and capture some of those sunspots too! Should be the start of a wonderful observing year. Merry Christmas everybody!

11:46:38 Steve Gottlieb

Beautiful view from Inspiration Point

Inspiration Point at the east end of Tilden Park above Berkeley was a beautiful setting for the partial eclipse with Mt. Diablo looming in the east. I lugged along my 10" f/5.6 dob and showed views of the sunspots and eclipse to a several people who had come only with binoculars and a number of Christmas morning joggers starting off from the parking lot at Inspiration Point.

This makes two partial eclipses visible in northern California six months apart! The last one on July 30th, in counterpoint, started about a half hour before sunset, low in the west and set over distant mountains from our vantage point high in the Sierras.

12:25:43 Phil Chambers
Well, I awoke to a clear morning (surprise!!) and got out to see the eclipse. After a couple of abortive attempts to photo it through my N5, I just used the zoom feature on the Casio cam itself through Baader film (my finder solar filter). However, at that time of morning, there is no such thing as an unobstructed view unless I want to get on the roof. :-)

Daughter joined me for 45 sec and went back to bed.

The 2 pictures worth putting up are at:

http://www.svpal.org/~ptchamb/eclipse.html

Happy Holidays!!!