CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: Partial Eclipse

True to form , as soon as I realised ( last Saturday ) that there was to be a partial eclipse of the sun today , it started raining , and when I checked the five day forecast at the time , the rain looked set to continue throughout the whole week .

This was doubtless good news for fish , fisherpersons , rivers , reservoirs , farmers , the environment agency , water authorities and those strange people who rush to their GPs for anti - depression prescriptions at the first sign of a clear blue sky .

Surely enough , it had hardly stopped raining for the past four days , when yesterday morning , the forecast for today suddenly altered to SUNNY INTERVALS , after a dry frosty night !

What had made me PARTICULARLY interested in THIS celestial event was the fact that , courtesy of the Cloudy Nighter Mysterioso , I STILL have the Oberwerk 12 x 60 on loan , along with their customised objective solar filters !

I heard on the TV news that the partial eclipse was set to start at around 10.30 local time , and yesterday , the hand of fate dealt me a day working in the beautiful setting of Windermere in the English Lake district .

I awoke to an almost CLOUDLESS sky ( such a dramatic and welcome change from the dreadful , dreary weather we've been suffering for so long here ) and just the 90 minute drive up there was therapeutic , with breathtaking views of the old familiar craggy peaks of the Lakeland fells altering with every slight change of direction , growing in appearance as I miled closer to them every minute .

The location of my work was the Air Training Corps centre , which adjoins an Adventure Training Centre , usually a hive of young hikers , rock climbers , canoeists and rope knotters in general , but which unusually , was unoccupied today , apart from three members of staff .

I arrived at the site just before 9am. and decided to make a point of mentioning the forthcoming event upon arrival , during introductory chat about what a lovely morning it was ( the weather is something of a national OBSESSION with us British citizens ! )

None of the three members of staff were aware of the partial eclipse about to take place , which surprised me slightly , they all supposedly being the creme de la creme of OUTDOOR activities types .

The nature of the work I was carrying out , and especially it's LOCATION , lent itself very conveniently to me being able to pop out a few times during the couple of hours over which the event covered .

Following something I learned only very recently via a discussion about binoculars on another forum , i.e that it is just as easy to hold 10x binoculars steady as it is 7x or 8x models , I decided NOT to take a tripod or even a neck monopod along , and just enjoy the total freedom of hand - holding the 12x binoculars .

I first went out just after 10.30 to see a tiny black crescent shape of the moon covering the lower right part of the sun in roughly the 4 - 5 o' clock ( or south east ) area , also immediately noticing , to no little personal delight , a DISTINCT black sun spot just inwards from the 9 o' clock position , with a feinter greyish one , almost in perfect alignment with it , at 9 o' clock , roughly half way between it and the edge of the sun's sphere .

For those who have never seen the sun through a sun filter , it looks a glorious , warm orange / yellow colour , and is not unlike looking at the moon through binoculars when it is close to the horizon in a small clear area on an otherwise murky evening , but with absolutely NO details visible .

The two male members of staff accompanied me outside and were both delighted when I offered them the binoculars in turn to take a look for themselves , even though it took both of them what seemed forever to FIND the sun through them !

It's funny how SOME people just seem to have no idea when it comes to AIMING binoculars towards celestial objects .
When in the midst of such people ,I can usually tell , even when standing some distance from them , that they are aiming nowhere near where they OUGHT to be !

These two guys were no different .

For " outward bound " instructors , I found this mildly amusing :-)

Incredibly , it was the first time EITHER of them had ever SEEN ANY kind of solar eclipse , and both of them seemed genuinely as THRILLED as I was .

Another minute - long glance at around 10.45 showed a larger section of the sun , in the 5 o'clock position , blotted out with a perfect black crescent shaped disc .

I detected no chromatic aberration whatsover with the sun centralised in the binocular view , but moving the binoculars around slightly so as to place it at the top and bottom and right and left of the 5.7 degree TFOV showed quite distinctive edges , or bands of RED , GREEN , YELLOW and YELLOW respectively , the RED forming a particularly striking contrast between the sheer black area covered by the moon and the deep yellow of the sun .

Half an hour later , at 11.15 , the " black moon " was occupying was appeared to be PRECISELY the bottom ( 6 o' clock ) area of the sun , forming a perfectly symmetrical segment which was truly BEAUTIFUL to behold through the Oberwerk 12 x 60s / solar filters .

Clouds had started rolling in from the south west by this stage , and the visual effect of them moving quickly across the face of the sun , gave the illusion of the sun , a perfect yellow ball , with a perfect jet black section at the bottom , SPINNING around behind a curtain of dry ice .

VERY memorable -- very EERIE -- indeed , SURREAL !

How I wish I could have RECORDED those few minutes for posterity !

Even a few still photos would have been great mementos , and proved a priceless addition to this little account .
I've seen a few photos taken today by amateur enthusiasts far more given to photography than I will ever be , but none of the photos have come close to matching the magic of seeing what I saw LIVE !

I was so impressed by this view that I called the two members of staff out again to share it with them , but feeling a little awkward in the situation of THEY ( or at least their employers ) actually paying me for carrying out a professional job on their premises , I had to cut these observing sessions short and sweet .

They were certainly VERY impressed by the views though .

I'd somehow PRESUMED that this lowest positioning of the moon against the sun would coincide with the it's largest intrusion , but another quick look , approaching midday , showed that it had not only moved to the 8 'o' clock position of the face of the sun , but was now covering an even larger area of it .

In fact , I was quite surprised to see , about 20 minutes later , that the event was all over , but I was very pleased that for ONCE , a celestial event of ANY kind , had co - incided with clear , dry weather .

Even those few clouds added much to the drama !

Another thing I had the presence of mind to check again whilst observing these wondrous sites , was the difference ( recently mentioned in a binocular forum ) in BRIGHTNESS or SHADE between what is seen through either EYE .

The sun through my right eye appeared distinctly LIGHTER than it did through my left , even when I inverted the binoculars so as to be looking through the left objective with the right eye .

Now WHAT is that old saying ?

AH -- that's it !

It's all in the eyes of the beholder !

Regards , Kenny

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Milton Wilcox R.I.P