39 replies to this topic

[tcifani]

I'll probably use a Meade Polaris 90/900mm on a decent alt/az mount, maybe with an 18mm Ortho at 50x, or maybe lower power if it gets a little cloudy. I might try to do some sketching, or just sit back and enjoy.

[starfinder123123]

I am using my Meade 312 refractor probably

Same here! With the 32mm TV plossl. Nice and easy to take pictures with hand help cellphone.

[abe]

Observing report:

Beautiful eclipse.  My vintage equipment all worked flawlessly and easily.   My modern equipment all let me down or was irritating to use.

Vintage:
- My C5+ tracked the eclipse perfectly the entire time with just a coarse alignment and a flip of the switch.  I haven't needed to change the 9V battery in years.  

- My vintage Astroscan performed beautifully as a visual companion.  The 28mm RKE provided the best and most colorful view, even better than the 22mm Panoptic.

Modern:

- My Nikon D500 battery went from 3 bars to dead within about an hour.   I checked the battery beforehand.  I always have battery problems with my modern Nikons (DSLR and Mirrorless) that I never had with my old D300s.
- My 3 backup batteries were all dead.

- My SD card started causing "Err" messages.
- My Nikon mirrorless has no physical controls and is useless for anything but point and shoot. 

- My M1 Mac has no ports so I have to root around for dongles every time.
- CC Photoshop sucks compared to trusty old Pre-CC Photoshop.

I'm honestly not a "new tech is all bad" kind of guy, but new is not always better in every way. 

 

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Edited by abe, 14 March 2025 - 11:29 AM.

[deSitter]

Observing report:

Beautiful eclipse.  My vintage equipment all worked flawlessly and easily.   My modern equipment all let me down or was irritating to use.

Vintage:
- My C5+ tracked the eclipse perfectly the entire time with just a coarse alignment and a flip of the switch.  I haven't needed to change the 9V battery in years.  

- My vintage Astroscan performed beautifully as a visual companion.  The 28mm RKE provided the best and most colorful view, even better than the 22mm Panoptic.

Modern:

- My Nikon D500 battery went from 3 bars to dead within about an hour.   I checked the battery beforehand.  I always have battery problems with my modern Nikons (DSLR and Mirrorless) that I never had with my old D300s.
- My 3 backup batteries were all dead.

- My SD card started causing "Err" messages.
- My Nikon mirrorless has no physical controls and is useless for anything but point and shoot. 

- My M1 Mac has no ports so I have to root around for dongles every time.
- CC Photoshop sucks compared to trusty old Pre-CC Photoshop.

I'm honestly not a "new tech is all bad" kind of guy, but new is not always better in every way. 

 

No pics, no batteries, no electrons, just my 90/900mm achromat and EQ mount, which I can track with one finger. Not kidding.

 

-drl

[starman876]

watched from my solarium nice and warm.    Used binoculars. One was an old 10X80 German gunnery binoculars. Beautiful wide field.  The moon was surrounded by stars. Do not get to see that very often. 

[abe]

No pics, no batteries, no electrons

I feel that way about mirrorless cameras.   It doesn't really matter how great the specs are if the battery is dead.   

Mirrorless:
Nikon Z5 - 470 shots
Nikon Z6 - 310 shots
Nikon Z9 - 740 shots

DSLR:
Nikon D4 - 2600 shots
Nikon D5 - 3780 shots
Nikon D6 - 3,580 images
Nikon D780 - 2,260 shots
Nikon D850 DSLR - 1,840 shots, 5,140 shots with grip

It's actually even worse than this because every moment that you're looking at the viewfinder / menus drains the battery.   I really tried to warm up to my mirrorless, but it just isn't happening.

[abe]

One thing that I learned:

There's something kind of nice about sitting on the front porch steps with an Astroscan in your lap.   It's kind of like an astronomical pet dog.   I think I even found myself petting it.

[deSitter]

One thing that I learned:

There's something kind of nice about sitting on the front porch steps with an Astroscan in your lap.   It's kind of like an astronomical pet dog.   I think I even found myself petting it.

Ha! I feel like that about the ETX90. It's sort of like a kitten.

 

-drl

[starfinder123123]

Rub it in guys! All I saw was clouds and moon fantbglow. Oh well, maybe next time.

[deSitter]

We had intermittent crystal clarity with passing high thin stratus through which the Moon shone. I noticed something very interesting. The slightest amount of thin cloud cover would almost completely erase the ocher tone of the fully eclipsed area. The orange hue would come and go as if it were on fire. The density of the clouds seemed to matter little.

 

-drl

[deSitter]

We had intermittent crystal clarity with passing high thin stratus through which the Moon shone. I noticed something very interesting. The slightest amount of thin cloud cover would almost completely erase the ocher tone of the fully eclipsed area. The orange hue would come and go as if it were on fire. The density of the clouds seemed to matter little.

 

-drl

Well I thought a lot about this since seeing it - it seemed like the play of orange light on a glowing ember. But it cannot have been because the cloud was scattering out the red - it was because the red was dim enough to be down where you can't see it any more. And the clouds themselves were exciting this boundary of perception, and making it seem as if the light itself were wavering more or less randomly. At times of perfect clarity the darkest part of the Moon was intensely orange, but then as a high stratus wisp would pass over, the light would waver and go over into grey. It is hard to describe.

 

The new 36mm 70deg QX did just fine But as usual most of the time was using the 20mm QX at 45x. The above effect was observed with that eyepiece.

 

-drl

[Tom Stock]

I used my 16" Lightbridge and the color was amazing.  First I used a 10" but the thin clouds washed out the color and detail.

[scout]

I had my 60mm Asahi-Pentax and old Bushnell Ensign 7x50 binoculars ready to go but got clouded out by the time the shadow even started crossing the moon. The clouds got so thick I couldn't even see the light of the full moon shining through. It was clear most of the day. 

[Kefka1138]

Lame,... Nights a bust. Clouds and rain in AZ. Enjoy mates.

[k5apl]

The Moon was clear for a few minutes around the Peak Time.  Striking in my Polaris 114 with 28mm RKE and

Celestron prism diagonal.  Clouds returned after that brief window.

Wes