- 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!!!