Saturday, June 26, 2010

Close enough for amateurs


Above is a photo I took this morning around 4:40 am (PDT) of the partially eclipsed moon. Having observed many sun- and moonsets, I thought I had a good chance of being in the right place to catch this eclipse crossing the horizon while at it's maximum (peak shadow). Living in a valley, I have a high horizon, and I had planned to set up my scope about a 1/4 mile farther from the slope. When I checked on the moon at 4:00 am, however, I knew that within +/-10 minutes my front yard would be suitable. The plus or minus 10 minutes could easily be corrected by moving a short distance along my street, which I didn't need to do.

jg 

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