Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Tonight - 06/08/09

Tonight / Thursday morning between 1am and 2am part of the Moon will pass through Earth's penumbra. You be able to see it as a slight darkening of the lower half of the Moon, with the deepest part of the eclipse at 1:39am. Hope it's a clear night so I can get some pics

Seanie M

Hope it works out for you hellboy. This partial penumbral eclipse will, however, be very faint. Only about the lower third of the Moon's surface will darken slightly.

Download this info sheet on the event, from NASA's eclipse pages.

Seanie.

polyfusion

Some additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2009_lunar_eclipse

jumpguy

I'll definetly go out and have a look. I was looking at the full moon last night through the bino's. Looks so detailed and nice close up.

Ostrom

Perfect clear skies here and a full moon to ruin it I think I would have taken an hour of clear browsing over the eclipse...

jumpguy

efla wrote: »

Perfect clear skies here and a full moon to ruin it I think I would have taken an hour of clear browsing over the eclipse...

Same here, moon is very bright. First clear sky in ages. Stupid moon.

jumpguy

jumpguy wrote: »

Same here, moon is very bright. First clear sky in ages. Stupid moon.

Yah, it's a pain alright. The weather is meant to pick up from now on for a good while, so we should get a good few clear nights. Winter is by far the best season for astronomy, though: so fingers crossed for lots of clear skies then.

jumpguy

Did abit of looking, nothing too big and not visible to the naked eye. Get the bino's out, may aswell see something. :pac:

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2009-Fig07.pdf
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2009.html#2009Aug06N

A shallow penumbral eclipse occurs 15 days after the total solar eclipse. Since its magnitude is only 0.402, it will not be visible to the naked eye. Details for the eclipse can be found in Figure 7.

Don't expect anything spectacular. Also, you probably won't notice the eclipse unless you photograph it (so you'll have several reference points) as it slowly fades in and out, leaving nothing greatly discernable to the naked eye.

For example, this is about as good as a penumbral eclipse gets:



Nothing spectacular (the one tonight won't even be as noticable as that, either).

jumpguy

Shh don't spoil what little excitement I have. :P What're you looking at tonight Jammy?

Ostrom

IFAS tells me I just missed a transit of Ganymede. Cant see anything with the moon glare and city glow!

jumpguy

jumpguy wrote: »

Shh don't spoil what little excitement I have. :P

If you're astute with your observations you'll notice the difference, so there's hope yet!

What're you looking at tonight Jammy?

Absolutely nothing, the Moon has ruined everything. It's the one thing in the sky that I hate...

I'm just holding out hope for next Wednesday when the Perseids reach their maximum.

Ostrom

I have just realised (given the circular layout of our estate - and thanks to a housemates observation) that there is nowhere in the night sky I can point my binoculars without looking like a pervert.

I'm keeping my notebook and redlight close to hand in case anyone says anything

jumpguy

efla wrote: »

I have just realised (given the circular layout of our estate - and thanks to a housemates observation) that there is nowhere in the night sky I can point my binoculars without looking like a pervert.

I'm keeping my notebook and redlight close to hand in case anyone says anything

Haha! Not even straight up? :pac: I think about 70% of telescopes are bought for astronomy, the other 30%.... I'm in an estate too but it's virtually deserted at this hour so if any of the neighbours saw me they'd be wondering what the crazy child is doing staring at the moon.

Same here Jammy, just went out and had a look at the moon now in the bino's, no visible change. Will try again every 10 minutes.
Are those times in UT? Isn't Ireland an hour ahead of UT during the summer?

dimejinky99

whats that big white star to the left of the moon? is it Jupiter or the space station does anyone know?

jumpguy

jumpguy wrote: »

Same here Jammy, just went out and had a look at the moon now in the bino's, no visible change. Will try again every 10 minutes.
Are those times in UT? Isn't Ireland an hour ahead of UT during the summer?

I honestly don't know. If you're not noticing anything at all now, they may very well be UT.

dimejinky99 wrote: »

whats that big white star to the left of the moon? is it Jupiter or the space station does anyone know?

Yah, that's Jupiter.

jumpguy

Went out and the moon is gone behind a thick band of clouds!! NOOOOO!!!!

Someone please go out and check for me...is it there?

jumpguy

jumpguy wrote: »

Went out and the moon is gone behind a thick band of clouds!! NOOOOO!!!!

Someone please go out and check for me...is it there?

Not that I can see, anyway. It looks slightly faded in the uppermost left "corner", but that may be due to its phase.

It has probably happened already, penumbral eclipses are, in my opinion, not worth watching.

dimejinky99

wow..thats Jupiter? that's so cool! thanks for that!

jumpguy

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

Not that I can see, anyway. It looks slightly faded in the uppermost left "corner", but that may be due to its phase.

It has probably happened already, penumbral eclipses are, in my opinion, not worth watching.

Hmmmmm..., and according to the information NASA has it should be in the bottom left corner. Perhaps it is in an hour...will have to have a look then.

I haven't noticed any change, maybe I got the times are wrong

AI say 1.39am

Ostrom

Nothing here either, had my eye on it for half an hour. Mostly taken with the lovely view of jupiter - one of few times my binos have resolved a moon* so close


*Is it still referred to as an occultation? - Io passing behind at 23:30

seanmcfoto

Nothing here.. Clouding over as we speak.. Even went out with the 40D 500mm with 2x and nothing to show for it.

lintdrummer

Nothing noticable here yet. Perhaps it's because it's so bright but looking at it with the naked eye, the moon seems to flicker brighter briefly every now and again.

01mirelly

emmettogara wrote: »

Nothing noticable here yet. Perhaps it's because it's so bright but looking at it with the naked eye, the moon seems to flicker brighter briefly every now and again.

You will see on nasa's web that they say it will not be visable to the naked eye.
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of August 06

A shallow penumbral eclipse occurs 15 days after the total solar eclipse. Since its magnitude is only 0.402, it will not be visible to the naked eye. Details for the eclipse can be found in Figure 7.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2009.html

seanmcfoto

So much for AI..

jumpguy

seanmcfoto wrote: »

So much for AI..

Yeah AI are pretty unpopular alright. Don't know why they posted about this...it apparently sucks...or maybe we'll have to wait an hour

01mirelly

ya least its a clear night for once and Jupiter is visable.

I got this pic



and then I got these two

01mirelly

Its .E.T ha

01mirelly

01mirelly wrote: »

Its .E.T ha

I'm going to post them up in the Paranormal section to see what people think, they look cool in a strange way

jumpguy

Where in the sky did you take those pics?

jumpguy

jumpguy wrote: »

Where in the sky did you take those pics?

Between the moon (left side) and Jupiter, I was trying to see if I could get a picture of some stars, you can see the same two stars in the pictures. Has me baffled

jumpguy

Saw two pairs of stars abit similiar to that last night except they were not close to the moon. Forgot to look up what they were on Stellarium, just remembered now!

I'm jaded, crappy night for stargazing, night all!

Seanie M

01mirelly wrote: »

Since its magnitude is only 0.402, it will not be visible to the naked eye.

I think it's a magnitude change, which is not very noticeable to the naked eye. A magnitude +1 is 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude +2 object, and so on. The Moon is an average of magnitude -12 when full.

To see how tiny the difference in brightness was last night, visit this thread here:

http://www.irishastronomy.org/cms/forum?func=view&catid=29&id=80055#80062

There is a link to the actual photo in reverse format showing the difference.

Bells and whistles by A&S for a more or less non-event it sounds like.

Seanie.

jumpguy

Bells and whistles indeed, it's virtually unnoticeable.

Ricky91t

I was all clouded in last night,Gonna' have a look at jupiter tonight though

jumpguy

Stupid moon!!!! GODDAMNIT!!! Another clear night gone!

Question: Can anyone make out the moons of Jupiter with 10x50 goggles? I can't.

Seanie M

jumpguy wrote: »

Stupid moon!!!! GODDAMNIT!!! Another clear night gone!

Question: Can anyone make out the moons of Jupiter with 10x50 goggles? I can't.

I was able to separate 2 of the Galilean moons once before in 12 X 50's, so I think it can be done. You need to have your bino's mounted on a tripod so that you don't shake them - very important to see such detail! I also recognised the shape of Saturn through the bino's too (an elongated disc).

Seanie.

Dave!

Didn't notice anything with the moon, but was indeed wondering what the bright dot beside it was Jupiter eh... Cool.

jumpguy

Seanie M wrote: »

I was able to separate 2 of the Galilean moons once before in 12 X 50's, so I think it can be done. You need to have your bino's mounted on a tripod so that you don't shake them - very important to see such detail! I also recognised the shape of Saturn through the bino's too (an elongated disc).

Seanie.

Ahh I see, the tripod is my downfall. I can rest my arms on the pier which keeps it very steady but not perfect. I can make out what looks like 2 stars joined together at best, but no perfect 2 (or even 4) seperate stars.

Seanie M

jumpguy wrote: »

Ahh I see, the tripod is my downfall. I can rest my arms on the pier which keeps it very steady but not perfect. I can make out what looks like 2 stars joined together at best, but no perfect 2 (or even 4) seperate stars.

Well don't forget, the moon's orbit Jupiter, so from night to night, their positions will change, and at that, you won't always see the 4 of them.

Seanie.