Eclipse!!1!!

[Muirium]

Come on, like I couldn't shoot pictures of that goofy grinning sun today…

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I may have done it slightly wrong.

[andrewjoy]

i will post mine in the morning i have lots

[chzel]

Where was your UV filter Mu?

[bazh]

where were you guys watching it? My place was nothing better than a darker noon and I couldnt hardly see anything thing

[seebart]

I did shoot pictures of the Eclipse and they suck! :O

[Muirium]

Scotland had it pretty good:



There was some fast moving low cloud around here, but it was mostly clear. I took more pictures of the weird lighting and shadows than I did of the grinning sun. My improvised filters were a little crazy as you can see.

I quite like this alternate star system!

[mr_a500]

Is that your sinister cackle at the end? You should be a super-villain.

[andrewjoy]

apparently an old floppy disk works quite well as a filter

off to B and Q to buy some floor , when i get back i will upload some pics

[Muirium]

First a yard, and now fancy flooring from a boutique? I'm onto you. Mr. Bourgeois! Show us your top hat!


@A500: Do I strike you as the cackling type? I suppose there's a slight danger of it…

[webwit]

Eclipses are boring. It gets dark, and you see a dark circle with a tiny border of light. Every single sunset is more beautiful.

[Muirium]

Eclipses are the industrial version. Rarer ergo better.

[mr_a500]

I'll give you three Canadian sunsets for just one of your Scottish eclipses. Come on, it's a good deal.

[Muirium]

In ther original boxes? If not, you're going to have to spice up your offer a bit. Got some Clacks?

[seebart]

Eclipses are boring. It gets dark, and you see a dark circle with a tiny border of light. Every single sunset is more beautiful.

True. It's human nature to seek and celebrate the rare occurrences.

The northern lights seem impressive compared to all this.

[fohat]

For many many years I have hoped to see great celestial events. I am an old man, and there have been many "opportunities" that always seem to get messed up, very often by overcast or bad weather. And living in populated areas around the 35th parallel, well into the North American continent, does not help.

That said, I have seen only 1 each *truly spectacular* solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, and meteorite, and all were during the decade of the 1980s.

[mr_a500]

For many many years I have hoped to see great celestial events. I am an old man, and there have been many "opportunities" that always seem to get messed up, very often by overcast or bad weather.

I can't even count the number of times I went out to see a celestial event in the middle of the night only to see a sky full of clouds or the "event" not visible. (and get eaten by mosquitoes in summer or freeze my ass in winter)

I even missed Halley's comet - didn't see a damn thing, even though it was supposedly visible for months. (and no, I wasn't looking through the wrong end of the binoculars)

[Findecanor]

There was a video on the news from the Faroe Islands where the eclipse was total. It looked to me as if someone was playing with the light and contrast on the TV set.

We got something like 80-85% eclipse here in Stockholm. It was cloudy just enough that the partial eclipse was visible with the naked eye. I took a couple picture with my point-and-shoot camera but it couldn't focus well on the sky.

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Once the Sun got unobscured again, it could no longer be seen through the clouds because the light was so diffused.

Supposedly there were also Northern Lights in the middle of the week but I couldn't see it. I had bad timing and/or there was too much light pollution.

[bazh]

speaking of the northen light, I was lucky enough to see it this week, thogh it's not quite like what I always imagined from that of the pictures but still the most impressive thing I've ever seen

[fohat]

Halley's comet - didn't see a damn thing, even though it was supposedly visible for months.

That was a monumental disappointment. My grandfather always told me about having seen it when he was young - he said it made a huge arc a third of the way across the sky (probably an exaggeration) and just hung up there every night for days.

What I saw was a faint little thing off by the horizon, barely once or twice each, coming and going a week apart or whatever.

And that double-tailed comet back in the 1990s - I got one great clear look at it but that was the only one. I was driving in my car just after sunset and I looked up about 30 degrees and saw it very clearly (small, of course) until the road made a bend. I never saw it again.

[Muirium]

There was a good comet around 1998 that was highly visible in the northern sky for months. What was it's name again? It was the only one I can remember seeing clearly without futzing around with binoculars.

Everybody cheats when they shoot aurora: they go for a long exposure which makes it brighter and take on a different artificial shape "on film". (We need a good term for "on sensor". Fuck it: I'm saying on film and anyone who corrects me gets an IOU for mild facial injury.) It looks bloated and static. In real life there's so much more energy to it. It's way more cosmic.

I've only really seen aurora once. Edinburgh has horrendous light pollution and there was just one time back around 2000 when the aurora was so strong that it overcame the orange haze and looked quite spectacular. I'd no idea it was due to happen, I simply noticed the old fashioned way: what's all this green and purple in the sky? Oooh, it moves!

After that, I knew what to look out for and have noticed faint aurora a number of times. But you've really got to see it strong. Hopefully these new streetlights we're getting right now will spread all over town and return the sky to nature again. They're certainly an improvement for my eyes at night while out and about. Now with advanced "lampshade" technology!

[mr_a500]

What I saw was a faint little thing off by the horizon, barely once or twice each, coming and going a week apart or whatever.

I'm further north, so what was on the horizon for you would have been below the horizon for me. At least I wasn't alone in missing it - from Wikipedia:

Halley's 1986 apparition was the least favorable on record. The comet and Earth were on opposite sides of the Sun in February 1986, creating the worst viewing circumstances for Earth observers for the last 2,000 years. Halley's closest approach was 0.42 AU. Additionally, with increased light pollution from urbanization, many people failed to even see the comet.

speaking of the northen light, I was lucky enough to see it this week, thogh it's not quite like what I always imagined from that of the pictures but still the most impressive thing I've ever seen

I only ever saw the northern lights once in my life, when I was in BC (around 49˚ north) in 1993. It was like a faint blue-green curtain across the whole sky, moving very slowly.

[Muirium]

I look forward to your excuses as to how you missed the Great Comet of 1997: Hale-Bopp.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale–Bopp

It was so bright and so large that normals were forever asking me "is that a shooting star?" and "why's it no moving?" They never liked my answers!

[mr_a500]

I look forward to your excuses as to how you missed the Great Comet of 1997: Hale-Bopp.

1997? I was probably having sex. I had a lot of sex that year... and I mean a lot.

No, I was living in downtown Toronto then - so much light pollution, you can barely see the moon.
(...but a lot of sex)

[seebart]

I look forward to your excuses as to how you missed the Great Comet of 1997: Hale-Bopp.

1997? I was probably having sex. I had a lot of sex that year... and I mean a lot.

No, I was living in downtown Toronto then - so much light pollution, you can barely see the moon.
(...but a lot of sex)

Well Hale-Bopp to that then.

[Muirium]

Trapped in a dungeon… huh. Probably better not to explore this thread of the A500 tapestry too far…

[mr_a500]

Dungeon? We don't have dungeons in Canada. It's not Scotland, you know.

I was kidding about the sex. With a comet like that, I'd interrupt sex just to see it. "Just a minute, honey."(...actually, no. Sex takes priority.)

[seebart]

Dungeon? We don't have dungeons in Canada. It's not Scotland, you know.

I was kidding about the sex. With a comet like that, I'd interrupt sex just to see it. "Just a minute, honey."(...actually, no. Sex takes priority.)

This thread turned out to be a fun one.

[Mal-2]

Dungeon? We don't have dungeons in Canada. It's not Scotland, you know.

I was kidding about the sex. With a comet like that, I'd interrupt sex just to see it. "Just a minute, honey."(...actually, no. Sex takes priority.)

I thought the standard joke was that Canadians have sex doggy style so they can both watch the hockey game.

[Muirium]

See, they're so thoughtful over there!

[mr_a500]

I thought the standard joke was that Canadians have sex doggy style so they can both watch the hockey game.

Hmm... I'll have to try that - next time I go to a hockey game.