Natural phenomenon you have witnessed?

[Sun Chariot]

Very similar experience from a school friend's garden in southern Munich - 20min gap in cloud/rain just at the perfect time! Canon FT (with Ektachrome! Proper old school transparencies!) with 2x converter on a Televue Pronto (960mm FL I think)

View attachment 208849

Stunning G, that is superb.

 

[davews]

Stunning G, that is superb.

Yes, indeed. I was pretty disappointed with my efforts.

 

[Howardh]

I would certainly like to go to Gibraltar to see it, having not been before, but given how small it is I expect it to be either sold out fast, and/or very expensive, which is why I'm thinking southern Spain. It's also visible from just outside Algiers and Sfax in Tunisia, plus Luxor in Egypt plays host to the longest duration of totality. It will also interestingly be visible from Mecca.

Yes, just use Gibraltar as an airport and head to somewhere cheaper. The eclipse then covers much less of Spain than this, which probably explains why prices to see this one are relatively low. I expect a large number of "locals" to drive in and out of totality on the mainland, expect roads to be congested (at least!)?

 

[4COR]

Stunning G, that is superb.

Yes, indeed. I was pretty disappointed with my efforts.

Ta both! Astrophotography (and actually photometry - proper scientific measurements of variable stars - I have 2 co-authored papers...) is another hobby of mine, and has been for decades...

It's on a bit of a hiatus, with family and other life commitments tbh, but I still have the kit, even if the mirrors will need stripping and recoating, and mount work/gears re-lubing...

 

[Bald Rick]

The problem is that for those of us who have seen a good totality (1999 in Salzburg) anything less than totality is boring... But getting a bit old now to be planning trips to exotic places.

Saw totality in northern France in 1999, and therefore this eclipse has been in the calendar since then…

 

[brad465]

I would certainly like to go to Gibraltar to see it, having not been before, but given how small it is I expect it to be either sold out fast, and/or very expensive, which is why I'm thinking southern Spain. It's also visible from just outside Algiers and Sfax in Tunisia, plus Luxor in Egypt plays host to the longest duration of totality. It will also interestingly be visible from Mecca.

In an update, I've managed to book a 4-day package holiday to Malaga to coincide with the 2nd August 2027 eclipse, Malaga is just inside the cone while the hotel is further SW, so should get about 2 minutes of totality if all is well. Gibraltar unsurprisingly had almost no availability, unless most hotels haven't started selling this period yet. As a bonus it would be my first trip to the Spanish mainland, having only frequented Majorca, Lanzarote and Tenerife so far.

You were lucky to see good totality in August 1999. I stepped off the train at Plymouth in clear sky at around 07:00 on the morning of the eclipse, but by mid-morning heavy cloud had moved in, not only at Plymouth but over most of Devon and Cornwall. I too am a bit too long in the tooth to eclipse chase now, so shall never see totality!

I was on holiday in Devon and my parents managed to see it in Paignton, although as I was 3 and a half at the time don't remember it.

 

[Howardh]

I was on holiday in Devon and my parents managed to see it in Paignton, although as I was 3 and a half at the time don't remember it.

Or, as my uncle on holiday for a week in Cornwall said "The one bit of sunshine all week and the blummin moon covered it up...."!

 

[davews]

My brother was living in Alderney at the time of the 1999 eclipse and saw it there - unlike most of the south west and other channel islands they had a good view. I have a VCR cassette of it produced by a local company (but nothing to play it on...).

 

[Statto]

A partial & total eclipse is taking place on Wednesday 12th August, between 6pm & 8pm

https://news.sky.com/story/europes-first-total-solar-eclipse-in-almost-30-years-what-you-need-to-know-13560160

Europe's first total solar eclipse in almost 30 years: What you need to know​

The rare celestial event will see most of the sun obscured in the UK, while some European territories will go completely dark.
Day will briefly turn into night for parts of Europe this week as the continent experiences its first solar eclipse in nearly three decades.

The rare celestial event on Wednesday will see the moon pass directly between the Earth and the sun, briefly plunging people in parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, Spain and a small corner of Portugal into darkness, according to NASA.



The UK will only experience a partial solar eclipse, but it's still set to cover the vast majority of our view of the sun.

 

[Sun Chariot]

A partial & total eclipse is taking place on Wednesday 12th August, between 6pm & 8pm

https://news.sky.com/story/europes-first-total-solar-eclipse-in-almost-30-years-what-you-need-to-know-13560160

Deja vu.

Natural phenomenon you have witnessed?

Eventually managed to observe Mercury yesterday evening, to the right and below the Jupiter-Venus pairing, but needed binoculars to find it. Once it’s position was found, it was still very difficult to pick out with the naked eye in the twilight glow.

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Benters]

Saw totality in northern France in 1999, and therefore this eclipse has been in the calendar since then…

I was on holiday in Brittany at the time of the 1999 total eclipse. A large crowd had gathered on the headland at the campsite to observe the event. I remember a distinct chill in the air as totality approached and the temperature fell.

 

[Bald Rick]

Sort of natural, but part man made.

From the top room of our house, in perfect post sunset conditions, I have watched the contrail of EI463 from Catania to Dublin as the aircraft crossed the Welsh border near Knighton, almost 120miles away.

 

[brad465]

This will be the largest proportion of the sun to be obscured over London since Boris Johnson got stuck on the zip wire.

 

[adc82140]

Are we all ready for the eclipse? I fundamentally won't trust any eclipse glasses bought online, so I'll be pinhole projecting the sun onto white card.

There are various social media posts claiming that you can use a welding mask to view the sun. This is untrue, and an unsafe thing to do.

 

[Harvester]

I checked the exact position the sun at 19:10 yesterday evening and it was well above the rooftops, and very bright. It will be bright when it becomes a thin crescent at 19:10 this evening, and should not be viewed with the naked eye. I have eclipse glasses bought online, have tried them out, and shall confidently use them again this evening.

 

[The exile]

Very similar experience from a school friend's garden in southern Munich - 20min gap in cloud/rain just at the perfect time! Canon FT (with Ektachrome! Proper old school transparencies!) with 2x converter on a Televue Pronto (960mm FL I think)

View attachment 208849

Very jealous - the Black Forest had cloud cover that was thick enough to obscure the sun while diffusing / reflecting so much light that it only got a bit more gloomy than it was already!

 

[4COR]

Are we all ready for the eclipse? I fundamentally won't trust any eclipse glasses bought online, so I'll be pinhole projecting the sun onto white card.

There are various social media posts claiming that you can use a welding mask to view the sun. This is untrue, and an unsafe thing to do.

Well, that's incorrect - shade 12+ welding glass is fine, but often 12 is uncomfortably bright. (Source: https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso12312-2)

Otherwise, we've driven to Calahorra de Boedo, where is it very clear, we have a good horizon, and there is a bar! T minus 3 hours to 1st contact.



Here's a pic from 2 days ago in equipment testing - almost barren in terms of sunspots, though think a new one has just rotated over the limb.

 

[bahnause]

Even more than the solar eclipse, I’m looking forward to my neighbor’s explanation. In his opinion, the earth is flat, and he wants to prove this to me using his model in connection with the solar eclipse. However, since even after all these years he hasn’t even been able to explain an ordinary sunset using his model, I don’t have much hope.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Enjoy the eclipse everyone... some of us will be working

 

[andy33gmail]

I’m on a train improvising a ticket into a pin-hole camera. Wish I remembered to bring appropriate glasses!

 

[Ashley Hill]

I stood in the back garden with our colander and a sheet of paper. The last partial eclipse I used the dark end of a roll of 35mm negative which worked well for viewing direct. In 1999 it was too overcast to see anything.

 

[Harvester]

Perfect clear sky here in Notts at max eclipse. The light level dropped noticeably, as the sun appeared as a thin orange crescent through my eclipse glasses.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Most of the year, the evening sun casts its shadow across the front of our house
During the moon's passage, the shadow was back-to-front.

We watched the peak coverage; it reminded us of early dusk.
Our three-year-old German Shepherd showed his interest by charging round the garden, playing with his favourite ball. No change there, then...

 

[ChrisC]

Perfect clear sky here in Notts at max eclipse. The light level dropped noticeably, as the sun appeared as a thin orange crescent through my eclipse glasses.

I agree perfect clear sky in Notts. Very strange here as the light level began to drop. About 15 minutes before max eclipse dozens of seagulls started to fly around in circles over the fields and above the village. We only usually see the occasional seagull here but the sky was full of them. No noise, they were just silently flying around.

 

[Peter C]

This is something which could fit equally well into the "What's made you happy" thread. I've seen an eclipse! Not around for the 1999 one and I seem to remember there was another sort of eclipse about a decade ago (?) but the clouds got in the way of that one. So I'm over the moon (!) to have finally seen one. A fair few people from along the road came out to see it and we were all blown away by it - it wasn't a total eclipse for us, but might as well have been, given how impressive it was. Then I took the glasses with me on a walk and even an hour later I could just about see the last bit of the eclipse. Wonderful.

-Peter

 

[Mr. SW]

This is a lens flare spot from my phone that I caught almost accidentally at 19:23. Hugely magnified.

 

[75A]

Can I have my money back please?
All we had here on the east coast of Ireland was cloud.

 

[Rail Ranger]

The effect of the eclipse on my front door. The light was coming through trees acting as pinhole cameras.

 

[Sun Chariot]

The effect of the eclipse on my front door. The light was coming through trees acting as pinhole cameras.

Superb!

 

[ABB125]

A few eclipse images from Gloucestershire. Not brilliant given I didn't get around to acquiring some better camera protective equipment, but maybe I can do that next year! The greenish tint comes from the welding glass I used...
And a timelapse
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