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Pages: 1 Dave Chapman sage Reged: 01/27/07 Loc: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Earthshine observing project—any interest?       #5633301 - 01/20/13 02:08 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Is anyone on this forum interested in a project to observe enhanced Earthshine at predictable Sun-Moon elongations? This would be a great activity regardless of your observing experience, and it can even be carried out from an urban backyard. There is theoretical and observational evidence that earthshine is enhanced by a "fogbow" effect for about 8 hours around the time that the crescent Moon is 41º elongated from the Sun (more or less 3.4 days). In essence, from the Moon's perspective, the bright gibbous Earth is at the same angle from the anti-solar direction that forms rainbows here on Earth, however the water droplets in the clouds are so small it is a white-light bow, not a coloured bow. When the Earth is within the bow range, there is enhanced illumination of the Moon, hence enhanced earthshine. The enhancement was observed here in Nova Scotia last Monday, and there is already a small group interested in following it up. On LPOD there was a wonderful photo: http://tinyurl.com/aruvp9f If there is interest, I will post the computed predicted dates and times for 2013. Because it is a short-lived effect, it may not be visible from a fixed location during successive lunations, so a "longitudically dispersed" observing group would be an asset. Dave XVII Chapman Edited by Dave Chapman (01/22/13 01:20 PM) Post Extras:       Tim2723 The Moon Guy Reged: 02/19/04 Loc: Northern New Jersey Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Dave Chapman]       #5633531 - 01/20/13 04:41 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Sounds like fun. I look up every time I leave the house anyway, so what's one more thing to pay attention to? Post Extras:       RobDob sage Reged: 04/10/10 Loc: Brentwood (East Bay Area), CA Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Tim2723]       #5633867 - 01/20/13 08:13 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Very interesting. I've seen this phenomena before. Just hope prediction times match with observing time and conditions... But, yes. sounds like a fun project! Rob Post Extras:       Dave Chapman sage Reged: 01/27/07 Loc: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: RobDob]       #5634508 - 01/21/13 08:53 AM Attachment (40 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Here is a photo by Phillipe Tosi (France), who gave me permission to use it. Take on January 15, 2013, it gives a good idea what we are looking for, should people need an incentive! Dave Post Extras:       Quinn member Reged: 03/19/12 Loc: California, Los Angeles Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: RobDob]       #5634509 - 01/21/13 08:53 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Sound interesting. If you could point me to where I can find the calculations for this would be great. Alway looking for something new to wrap my head around Quinn Post Extras:       NeilMac Pooh-Bah Reged: 09/25/10 Loc: MedHat, AB, Canada Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Quinn]       #5634793 - 01/21/13 11:57 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Sounds like fun, have seen that effect, will depend on the clouds Post Extras:       Carol L Reged: 07/05/04 Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Dave Chapman]       #5634883 - 01/21/13 12:39 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Sounds great, Dave - count me in too. Just wondering - would a Moonglow filter make the enhanced Earthglow vanish? It'd be interesting to experiment with, provided the cloudgods cooperate in the first place. Post Extras:       Dave Chapman sage Reged: 01/27/07 Loc: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Quinn]       #5634891 - 01/21/13 12:42 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Sound interesting. If you could point me to where I can find the calculations for this would be great. Alway looking for something new to wrap my head around Quinn Thanks for your interest, Quinn. The following are the Universal Time dates and times we expect to notice enhancement of earthshine, based on the Moon being elongated from the Sun by 41º For your location, it would be helpful to use a desktop planetarium program such as Stellarium to determine your local observing circumstances: times of sunset, end of twilight, moonset, etc. The duration of the event is expected to be +/- 3h, so only a fraction of the events may be observable from a fixed location. There may be 2–3 lunations (or even more) between opportunities. EXPECTED DATE AND TIMES (UT) OF EARTHSHINE ENHANCEMENT Waxing Crescent Jan 14 20h Feb 13 12h Mar 15 06h Apr 14 00h May 13 18h June 12 09h July 11 23h Aug 10 11h Sep 8 21h Oct 8 06h Nov 6 14h Dec 5 22h Waning Crescent Jan 8 21h Feb 7 07h Mar 8 16h Apr 7 01h May 6 11h June 4 23h July 4 13h Aug 3 05h Sep 1 22h Oct 1 15h Oct 31 07h Nov 29 23h Dec 29 13h The possibility of the observation was documented in a paper by C. R. Benn, The Observatory, Vol. 114, 115–117 (June 1994). cielos claros Dave Post Extras:       cphk96 member Reged: 11/01/07 Loc: North Hollywood, CA Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Dave Chapman]       #5648242 - 01/28/13 01:50 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I want to participate! THis sounds like fun. What exactly will I be reporting? Will I be reporting what Lunar features I can see in the Earthshine portion of the moon? Chris Post Extras:       Dave Chapman sage Reged: 01/27/07 Loc: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: cphk96]       #5648647 - 01/28/13 04:34 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: I want to participate! THis sounds like fun. What exactly will I be reporting? Will I be reporting what Lunar features I can see in the Earthshine portion of the moon? Chris Thanks, Chris! We are sort of making this up as we go along. Ideally, we want to observe the Moon over 3 days, to see if the Earthshine changes in luminance. Tricky, to be sure, but noting what features can be seen on "the dark side" could be part of that. clear skies Dave Post Extras:       Tom and Beth Carpal Tunnel Reged: 01/08/07 Loc: Tucson, AZ Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Dave Chapman]       #5652791 - 01/30/13 05:10 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   What the heck, I'm game for learning more on this. Post Extras:       rookie Good Night Nurse Reged: 01/14/06 Loc: St. Petersburg, FL Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: Tom and Beth]       #5656672 - 02/01/13 04:18 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Dave, I'd like to take part in this too. It seems a good way to develop and learn more observing skills. The waning crescents will be harder for me to observe. Post Extras:       ursamajor sage Reged: 07/24/07 Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: rookie]       #5794128 - 04/12/13 10:36 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The evening of Saturday April 13 is perfect for North America. There will be ideal conditions to look for a bright Earthshine. The weather here in Ontario doesn't look promising but I'll be checking anyways. Post Extras:       NeilMac Pooh-Bah Reged: 09/25/10 Loc: MedHat, AB, Canada Re: Earthshine observing project—any interest? [Re: ursamajor]       #5794244 - 04/12/13 11:39 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Weather forecast does not look promising here either Post Extras:       Pages: 1

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