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Eclipses of August 2008

Partial Lunar eclipse on the evening of the 16th August.

Fifteen days after the Solar eclipse when the Moon was full again there was be a Partial lunar eclipse. This occurs because at this time the angle of the Moon's orbit intersects the ecliptic at Full and New Moon. This was a fairly deep partial eclipse with over 80% of the Moons surface in the umbral (total) shadow. It rose just as the Sun set at about 9pm and the deepest eclipsing occurred at 22:10 when the moon was just a little less than 10 degrees above the east south eastern (128deg) horizon.

From where I was in West Cork the Moon was visible for most of the eclipse with only the odd cloud interrupting the view, Picture is not the best as I had only a zoom lens and no tripod.


Solar eclipse of August 1st

On the first of August there was a total solar eclipse visible along a narrow track that started in eastern Canada, crossed Greenland, then the Arctic seas before making landfall in Northern Russia and ending in mainland China. Form here in Southwestern Ireland we saw a partial solar eclipse with less than 25% of the sun's diameter covered by the Moon.

First item as always is safety. NEVER look at the Sun directly, even with just your eyes. Use special eclipse glasses or proper solar filters. You can also use an ELECTRIC ARC welding mask if the filter number is 13 or higher. A safe way of seeing the event is to project an image of the sun onto a white card with one side of a pair of binoculars. If in doubt don't risk it! There will be more eclipses but you only have one pair of eyes.

The first signs of the moon in front of the Sun (first contact) was visible, on schedule at about 9:25 BST under pleasantly clear skies. The Moon's bite got bigger and bigger until its maximum cover for our location at about 10:09 am. as shown above. The event was over at 10:52 when the Sun regained its more usual round appearance.

For more images see our Solar gallery page.

 

Total Lunar eclipse of Feb. 21st '08 seen in Kerry.

Being the last total lunar eclipse to be visible from Ireland from start to finish a special effort was put in to see it. The weather did its best to spoil the show but thanks to a local weather effect here in Tralee where, given a strong wind over the mountains, we often get clearances in the lee of the hills. So with a bit of driving we were some of the few in Ireland to see the event more or less in its totality.

The partial phase always looks odd with "bite" missing out of one edge. However it is nothing compared with the eerie appearance of the totally eclipsed Moon with the stars (and Saturn) hanging beside it in the sky.

What was a bright moonlit night just half an hour previously turns into a surreal darkness with a ruddy red Moon hanging among previously unseen stars.

Totality numerically lasted for 51 minutes but the lower limb of the Moon never really darkened as it was always close to the edge of the umbral shadow.

The image over was taken at mid eclipse at 03:26 and is considerably brighter than what was visible to your eye.

For more images see the Lunar gallery page.

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ISS with Shuttle attached

These are images of the ISS taken on the 18:38 pass with a webcam and a 222mm Dobsonian telescope manually tracked.

For more details see the Near sky gallery page

For better images by other Irish amateur's see the IFAS Forum discussion page

Comet P17/Holmes on the 6/11/07

(top center with Alpha Persues center right)

Comet in outburst

Comet 17P/Holmes is normally an unspectacular comet that orbits the Sun every 7 or so years. It made an uneventful pass of its closeout point to the Sun last May. But now on its way back out in to the cold it suddenly is undergoing a major, spectacular eruption. It has brightened in late October by a factor of five hundred thousand times, becoming an easy naked eye object in the night sky then. The reason for this outburst is presently unknown but it has done this before when two similar outbursts lead to its discovery in the late eighteen hundreds.

Presently (February 08) it is still visible to the naked eye from a dark sky site as a large defies patch to the east of Algol in Perseus.

Image taken through a 222mm f5.77 telescope with Canon 300D DSLR on 6th of November 2007 See comet gallery page for more.

The International Space Station (ISS) is visible from Ireland in the Evening and Morning Sky for at different times throughout the year. Check the links below for times.

The times are available here for when it is visible from Killarney, Tralee and Dublin

 


Issue six (Spring 07) now available click here

ARCHIVED ISSUES ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AS PDF click here

THE LUNAR 100 Observing Challenge

Kerry Astronomy Club in Association with IFAS are proud to announce the launch of the Lunar 100 Observing Challenge. Based on Charles Wood's articles in Sky and Telescope, the lunar 100 is a list of 100 features on the Moon that illustrate the Moon's diversity and history.

To find out more why not visit our LUNAR 100 PAGE

Feedback
Hi guys. In our continued effort to improve, we have two pages for feedback, one on speir and one on our monthly meetings, please take the time to have a look and fill them in. They are anonymous so please be frank

SPEIR FEEDBACK FORM

MEETING FEEDBACK FORM

Telescope Collimation, A lot of you have been asking about collimating a reflecting telescope. As a starting point have a look at the links below
http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/howto/scopes/article_790.asp
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.scagell/collimate.html

http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Carlin/collimation/
http://www.nightskygazing.net/maintenance2.html



Resources

Meteor Showers times and rates
Chart on How to find Saturn
MONTHLY NOTES updated.
OBSERVING SESSIONS PAGE UPDATED
OUTREACH Sessions in Tralee and Killmoyley

ORION - A STELLAR SIGNPOST
BUYING A TELESCOPE
Download binocular observers handbook
Download summer triangle chart
Check out some free software for download
Latest Space Station Transit Times
DOWNLOAD A LUNAR MAP HERE (pdf file)


The club's aims are to :-

  • provide a focal point for those interested in astronomy here in the Southwest of Ireland
  • add a social side to what for many can be a solitary hobby by putting people in contact with each other
  • provide a forum for people of all levels of experience to meet, observe and discuss all things astronomical
  • provide astronomy related information to our local community, schools and groups
  • bring in people to give talks at our meetings to further our knowledge
  • be a resource to encourage anyone with an interest in astronomy
  • try to reverse, and to prevent further light pollution.

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since Feb. 2004.

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