Useful Projects for a Lunar Eclipse
[ad_1]
Amateur astronomers often plan how they’ll take photographs, image sequences, or even time-lapse videos of a lunar eclipse. But don’t overlook the scientifically useful projects that are just begging to be carried out. You don’t need anything but clear skies and some very simple equipment.
Color
Total lunar eclipses come in a great variety of brightnesses and hues. In February 1860, Irish amateur Mary Ward likened the Moon to “a red-hot penny” in the sky. But the famously dark eclipse of December 1963 was so dim that some skywatchers could not find the Moon when they stepped outdoors near mid-totality!
To help in comparing reports from various observers, even years and cultures apart, French astronomer André Danjon devised a five-point scale that is still used today. As shown below, the Danjon values range from 0 (Moon almost invisible at mid-totality) to 4 (very bright copper-red or orange Moon). To learn how to give this eclipse a Danjon L rating, go here.
Leah Tiscione / Sky & Telescope
Brightness
For many years Brazilian astronomer Helio C. Vital has led a very active group of observers in monitoring the brightness of the eclipsed Moon, not only as it moves across the shadow but also from one eclipse to the next. For example, he’s found that a total eclipse is fairly bright if it takes place when Earth’s atmosphere is nearly free of aerosols. But within a few years after a major volcanic eruption, eclipses are often much darker. Some darkening was even detected after the October 6, 2006, eruption of Mount Rabaul in Papua New Guinea.
So how do you make an estimate? If you wear thick glasses you can try taking them off so the Moon and bright planets or stars look like equal-size blobs. A better technique is to look at the Moon through the wrong end of binoculars, and to compare its brightness seen that way with various bright stars seen without optical aid. Do this at regular intervals as the Moon crosses the umbra, and in your report be sure to mention the power of the binoculars and which comparison stars you used.
Crater Timings — Measuring the Size of the Umbra
Gary Seronik
Timings of celestial events offered early mariners a way to find their longitude far from home. This method was used by Christopher Columbus, who timed the start and end of a lunar eclipse in 1504 during his fourth trip to the New World.
When astronomers tried to refine this method, however, they quickly found that the dark center of the Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, was larger than pure geometry indicated by about 2%, because our atmosphere adds to Earth’s effective diameter.
To time when the Moon’s edge enters or leaves the shadow is often iffy. Instead, it’s more accurate to time when individual spots and craters cross the shadow’s edge. For example, from 697 crater timings sent in by Sky & Telescope readers, I derived an enlargement of 2.1% for the July 1982 eclipse. But for a similar event only six months later, 298 timings gave 1.7% enlargement. In each case the probable error was less than 0.1%. So the enlargement definitely varies slightly from eclipse to eclipse, for reasons not yet understood.
The Moon photo above has prominent features labeled; click the image for a larger version to print out and take with you to the telescope. Sky & Telescope predictions of these features’ entrance and exit times in the umbra during the upcoming eclipse are given in the table below; you can also download a PDF version.
S&T’s Eclipse-Timing Predictions
for the Near-Total Lunar Eclipse of November 19, 2021
| Entry (UT) | Exit (UT) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Aristarchus | 7:26 | Grimaldi | 9:33 |
| Harpalus | 7:26 | Billy | 9:35 |
| Grimaldi | 7:34 | Campanus | 9:38 |
| Kepler | 7:34 | Tycho | 9:38 |
| Pico | 7:36 | Kepler | 9:50 |
| Plato | 7:36 | Aristarchus | 9:52 |
| Pytheas | 7:37 | Birt | 9:52 |
| Timocharis | 7:38 | Copernicus | 10:00 |
| Copernicus | 7:41 | Pytheas | 10:03 |
| Billy | 7:44 | Harpalus | 10:06 |
| Aristoteles | 7:45 | Timocharis | 10:09 |
| Eudoxus | 7:46 | Pico | 10:16 |
| Manilius | 7:54 | Plato | 10:16 |
| Menelaeus | 7:56 | Manilius | 10:19 |
| Plinius | 8:00 | Dionysius | 10:20 |
| Dionysius | 8:03 | Menelaus | 10:23 |
| Campanus | 8:04 | Aristoteles | 10:26 |
| Birt | 8:07 | Eudoxus | 10:26 |
| Proclus | 8:10 | Plinius | 10:27 |
| Censorinus | 8:12 | Censorinus | 10:28 |
| Taruntius | 8:15 | Goclenius | 10:29 |
| Goclenius | 8:22 | Langrenus | 10:36 |
| Tycho | 8:24 | Taruntius | 10:36 |
| Langrenus | 8:26 | Proclus | 10:38 |
Roger Sinnott / Sky & Telescope
Before making your timings, set a watch to accurate Internet time or use a time app that displays seconds on your phone. Write down the time (to the nearest 5 seconds) when the edge of the umbra crosses the center of the crater or other feature.
It’s as simple as that! The shadow edge is a little fuzzy, so try to judge the part of the shadow-edge where the light falls off most rapidly, and adopt that for your timings.
It’s best to use a scope with an aperture of at least 2.4 inches (60 mm), but not more than 8 inches (200 mm). The whole point is to make timings the same way they’ve been done for 300 years, so results can be compared.
If you carry out any of these simple projects at the next eclipse of the Moon, please e-mail the results to me. I’m collecting them for later analysis.
But no matter what you do, set aside a little time to sit back and enjoy the eclipse, too!
[ad_2]
Original Post
Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and aid others like you helped me.
Hello. remarkable job. I did not expect this. This is a fantastic story. Thanks!
Great write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s site, maintain up the excellent operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
It¦s actually a nice and helpful piece of info. I am happy that you simply shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
obviously like your web-site however you need to take a look at the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the truth however I will certainly come back again.
I couldn’t resist commenting
Thank you for the good writeup. It in reality was a enjoyment account it. Glance complicated to far brought agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate?
You are my breathing in, I own few web logs and occasionally run out from to post .
I’ll immediately seize your rss feed as I can not find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please permit me realize in order that I may just subscribe. Thanks.
Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write on my blog something like that. Can I include a fragment of your post to my site?
Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
you could have a terrific blog right here! would you prefer to make some invite posts on my blog?
Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!
Good post. I study something more difficult on totally different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content material from other writers and apply slightly one thing from their store. I’d favor to use some with the content material on my weblog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll offer you a link on your net blog. Thanks for sharing.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.
I truly appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thanks again!
I simply needed to thank you so much once more. I am not sure the things that I would’ve achieved in the absence of those pointers contributed by you on my industry. It seemed to be an absolute depressing difficulty for me personally, however , looking at this expert fashion you managed the issue took me to jump for joy. I am happier for this advice as well as hope you are aware of an amazing job you are always putting in educating men and women by way of your websites. Probably you’ve never come across all of us.
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. …
Fantastic blog! Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m totally overwhelmed .. Any ideas? Thank you!
My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different web address and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to checking out your web page for a second time.
I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Outstanding work!
Very interesting subject, appreciate it for putting up.
My developer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on several websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform. I have heard excellent things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it? Any help would be really appreciated!
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
Glad to be one of the visitants on this awful website : D.
I wanted to develop a simple message so as to appreciate you for some of the great tactics you are writing at this website. My extended internet search has at the end of the day been recognized with reputable facts and strategies to go over with my neighbours. I would assert that most of us website visitors are definitely blessed to live in a good website with many marvellous people with beneficial techniques. I feel truly blessed to have come across the website page and look forward to so many more cool times reading here. Thanks again for everything.
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your article seem to be running off the screen in Ie. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Many thanks
Would you be focused on exchanging links?
I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
What is Alpha Tonic? Alpha Tonic stands as a natural health supplement designed to comprehensively address men’s overall well-being.
Thanks for this post, I am a big fan of this internet site would like to continue updated.
This design is steller! You certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
I’m still learning from you, as I’m trying to reach my goals. I certainly enjoy reading all that is posted on your blog.Keep the stories coming. I enjoyed it!
I see something truly special in this web site.
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is needed to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet savvy so I’m not 100 sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you