A reason to get up early

[djewesbury]

With my expensive eclipse equipment (a Jacob's cream cracker and a piece of A4) I can see the nibble that has been taken out of the sun. I hope it stays a little clear in the south-east.

[djewesbury]

Will this be the best eclipse photo on TPF..??

[djewesbury]

Raindrops on window also acting as lenses, though somewhat blurry.

[djewesbury]

Remarkably dark now, with the sun shining.

[jdaw1]

South London still 100% cloud. Useless. Also dark as happens every day just before sundown.

[djewesbury]

Well it was spectacular here in the end. The whole deal. Saw it through glasses, saw it reflected in tinted windows, saw it clearly through light cloud. The darkness was quite, quite odd - long shadows like a summer evening, at 9.30 am.
I look forward to Derek's photos but I have now experienced the mechanics of the universe.

[djewesbury]

Zoom in...

[Alex Bridgeman]

There was no eclipse. It's just an early April Fool's hoax organised by DRT and DJ. It was cloudy, the clouds were thick and dark. Then at lunch-time the clouds parted, the sun came out and life was good.

If there had been an eclipse surely I would have seen a bit of the sun missing. Like when you take a bite out of a Cadbury Crème Egg.

[djewesbury]

Like what I saw, you mean Alex?

[DRT]

There was an eclipse. I photographed it through a Jacob's Cracker...

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[djewesbury]

Lovely photos Derek and thanks for posting. Glad you had a good view. I asked my students, this afternoon, if they'd seen it, and they couldn't see it at all, only 60 miles away from Belfast. We were lucky!

[PhilW]

Nice photos all, both Derek's "proper" ones, and I love the cracker photo too!
It was a beautiful, clear day in Perth also, saw the start of the eclipse, and had time just for a brief glimpse around the peak eclipse point. Didn't seem to darken quite as much as I remembered from back in '99(?), though that time I was able to view the whole thing rather than snatching glimpses when able this time. However given the expected weather, was pleased to see anything, let alone have a totally clear view.

[Glenn E.]

I hope I can get as good of pictures during the 2017 eclipse that runs smack across the center of the US.

[LGTrotter]

A meteor shower is predicted tonight across the UK on the twittersphere, can our resident Brian Cox tell us which way to face?

[jdaw1]

Derek has been photographing an asteroid. He sent some pictures, here strung together in a gif.

[DRT]

A meteor shower is predicted tonight across the UK on the twittersphere, can our resident Brian Cox tell us which way to face?

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks in the early hours of tomorrow morning but has already started.

You need to find the star Vega, a very bright star in the constellation Lyra. At around midnight it will be directly to the east...

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Once you find Vega look slightly to the right, that is the point in the sky where the meteors emanate from...

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Good luck - I'm off to bed with Man Flu

[DRT]

This week's astronomical news is:

1. It's been raining for days. Or is it weeks?

2. The Philae Lander has woken up!

3. At sunset on 30th June, above the eastern horizon, Venus and Jupiter will appear to be separated by less than the apparent width of the Moon so will be a lovely target in either binoculars or a small telescope.

4. It is still raining.

[jdaw1]

The Philae Lander has woken up!

BBC drew my attention to that. Jolly good news. Let’s see how it is positioned, and whether it can do anything useful.

[djewesbury]

The Philae Lander has woken up!

BBC drew my attention to that. Jolly good news. Let’s see how it is positioned, and whether it can do anything useful.

It seems to have been writing some rather strange Tweets.

[DRT]

The Philae Lander has woken up!

BBC drew my attention to that. Jolly good news. Let’s see how it is positioned, and whether it can do anything useful.

It seems to have been writing some rather strange Tweets.

He's only ten years old. I suppose it's just an age thing

[DRT]

My first attempt at solar photography...

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[DRT]

And watch out for some fantastic pictures and new discoveries from New Horizons in the next few days. Very impressive flying.

[jdaw1]

And watch out for some fantastic pictures and new discoveries from New Horizons in the next few days. Very impressive flying.

More accurately, over the next few days it will be taking pictures that we hope will be impressive. It’ll take 16 months of non-broadband for them all to arrive. Slow download!

[DRT]

And watch out for some fantastic pictures and new discoveries from New Horizons in the next few days. Very impressive flying.

More accurately, over the next few days it will be taking pictures that we hope will be impressive. It’ll take 16 months of non-broadband for them all to arrive. Slow download!

More accurately, it will be taking thousands of pictures of Pluto and it's moons during the closest parts of the flyby, which will last less than a day, during which time it will stop all other functions including communication with Earth to maximise the resources available for the science stuff. It will then re-commence sending images to earth and continue to do so for many months. There is no reason to think we will not see close-up pictures within the next few days. Eighty two pictures have been published by NASA here that were taken between 1st and 9th July, a period that included three days out of commission due to "an anomaly".

The highly processed images and scientific experiment results may take a while to be published, but there will be pictures next week.

[jdaw1]

Also, it’s hiding behind its umbrella. It is using the radio dish as protection against any dust particles — quite important when travelling at 9 miles a second.