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George DeBarros
Taken with my Nikon 4500 digital camera. |
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John Clifton
Here are a couple of images from last night. I shot 377 images, and I
would say 90% are keepers. |
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Jay Albert
We had a little bit of luck at the South Florida Science Museum's
"Luna-See" event on October 27th. The light rain stopped and the murky
skies cleared in time for the last total eclipse of the Moon visible in
this area for the next four years. The event was very well attended by
both the public and the ASPB. We had eight or nine telescopes plus two
mounted binoculars set up on the field behind the Museum. Representing
the ASPB at this event were Gary Wasserstein, Jeff Nowak, Dan Wickles,
Dan Boyar, Jerry Niksch, Larry Nadel, Bill Chazotte, Ben Kolstad, Roland
Culberson, Charlie Fredrickson and this writer (my apologies to the
additional few whose names I'm unsure of). All of our telescopes had
lines of people waiting to look and there was lots of enthusiasm from
both young and old visitors. The weather was delightful and the
mosquitoes absent. The coppery color from the Earth's shadow was visible
to the naked eye well before totality and very pronounced during
totality. The color was enhanced in the telescopes and viewers enjoyed
steady seeing which brought out good detail. For example, certain bright
craters, such as Aristarchus and Proclus remained very bright all the way
through totality. The public also enjoyed telescopic views of such
favorites as Alberio, the Double Cluster, M31, the Pleiades and, at the
end of the evening, M42. The crowds tapered off after the Museum closed
at 11pm, but some people stayed until well past midnight. Dan Wickles
caught the entire eclipse on video and was the last one to leave. |
Total Lunar Eclipse 10-27-04
South Florida Science Museum
Celestron NexStar 4, 40mm Plossl,
afocal projection with
Olympus C5050 digital camera
Jay Albert |
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Fred Lehman
Only days before the eclipse, I had received an invitation to attend the
festivities at the Buehler Observatory on the Central Campus of Broward
Community College. Since I am on friendly terms with several of the
professors and staff members at the college, I packed up my scope, my
camera, my computer, and my projector and headed off to BCC for a fun-filled
evening of viewing. My primary scope was fitted with a digital camera for
still photography, and my Sony Handy-cam was installed into the secondary
scope. The video signal was cabled to the video projector and onto a
10-foot view screen placed next to the south wall of the observatory
building. A 2" lunar filter was fitted onto the lens of the projector to
reduce the brightness to an acceptable level. Although there were eight
other scopes and several pairs of binoculars, everyone was fascinated by
the eighty-four inch image of the eclipsing moon on the view screen.
Dr. Hill brought his entire astronomy class to the observatory for
its normal Wednesday "lab" session, and many of the students' parents and
younger siblings attended as well. |
 
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Photos courtesy Arno Van Werven |
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Erich Landstrom, NASA SEU Educator Ambassador
Like a magician unveiling and revealing a disappearing trick, the clouds
covered and uncovered the moon as it slipped deeper and deeper into the
Earth's umbra shadow. Four telescopes were set up for direct viewing
manned by club members active and former Jim Mayes, Larry Bem, Erich
Landstrom and Cal Waters. One further telescope was set up with a color
video camera and video projector to throw the image onto the side of
the library.
A good sized crowed of about 150 people came during the evening, never
so crowded that there was a long wait, never so few as make having multiple
telescopes set up seem extravagant. Almost all of the people were from the
community, including students at Boynton Beach Community High School. One
mother brought her daughter after reading an article in the paper about the
eclipse, and when getting to the observing sites and realizing that the
telescopes were just around the corner from them, raced over to see the
sights.
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Jim Mayes |
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Erich with Nathalie and Charlie |
Looking Skyward |
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